


Alma Mater

by Tamahori



Category: Heretical Edge - Cerulean
Genre: ALL THE SPOILERS, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Families of Choice, Gen, Sharing a Body, Where Plans Go To Die, occasional horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2020-11-25 17:56:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 96,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20916188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamahori/pseuds/Tamahori
Summary: A chance meeting due to Kushiel bringing her daughter to her project leads to Sariel breaking two girls out of hell, and Felicity Chambers comes to Crossroads with a very different helper.Warning: Contains heavy spoilers for Heretical Edge.





	1. Ambush 1.01

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: While Alma Mater should make sense without having read canon Heretical Edge, reading it without reading canon first is not advised.
> 
> Being surprised by the twists and reveals is a key part of the Heretical Edge experience, and Alma Mater spoils more twists than most Peggy Sue fics, and faster.
> 
> Please read [canon](https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/) first. It's really good.

[Saturday, August 5, 2017] 

Casper is the second largest city in Wyoming, which means it's still not very big because Wyoming. It's still large enough to have an urban area, though, and for all that Forbes named it the best family-friendly small city in the west back in 2010, the back alleys might not be the kind of place a teenage girl wants to go wandering. 

So of course I had been wandering through them, what do you take me for; wise? In my defence I had good reasons at the time. 

Which is how I found myself in a dead end between buildings with a couple of very dodgy individuals following me. “Hey baby, we just want to talk.” 

I gave them a rather fixed smile, “Ah, I’m just looking for a way out if that’s okay with you?” I was really hoping they were just muggers; there were far worse options that could have decided to follow a skinny blond sixteen year old down a dark alley. 

The talkative one of the two walked up to me, moving in close enough that I put my hand up to stop him getting closer. He looked down at that then back at me, “Hey babe, don’t worry; we’re just looking for a bit of fun.” He leaned in towards me, pushing against my raised hand, “Besides, it won’t hurt for long.” His smile widened, revealing inhuman fangs. 

My eyes went wide with shock. Vampires? Wait, I had been chased into an alley by vampires? That really happens? Okay, this was much worse than muggers. 

I managed to stammer out, “You don’t need to do this; I won’t tell anyone anything.” My choice of an old Buffy the Vampire Slayer t-shirt today was feeling decidedly ironic. 

He seemed a little surprised, but only a little. People seeing something like him for what he was during the event wasn’t that rare, and he’d be expecting me to forget the details the moment they were out of sight. For a moment I considered playing along; I knew for a fact I couldn’t catch vampirism off him for several reasons, and most of my other options involved dead bodies. 

_Stay calm. The question isn’t can we beat them; it’s how much do we reveal by doing so. You have time to choose what to do._

That was easy for her to say. _I can’t be sure I can outrun both of them, and they’ve seen my face; I can’t risk stories getting out. It’s go along or ..._

He misread the horror in my eyes as being afraid of him rather than for him. “Don’t worry sweet thing, you might even enjoy it … “ He gave me a look up and down that almost had me hitting him there and then, “On second thoughts, maybe we should have some other fun first … don’t worry, you’ll enjoy that too.” 

Okay. Going along with this was no longer an option. 

_I’m sorry, Felicity. I didn’t want you to have to do this so soon._

Feeling sick at what I was about to have to do, I managed to force a smile. “I thought the shirt would be a warning.” 

It took him a moment to react, then he glanced down and it was his turn to have his eyes go wide, “Chris, I think it’s a … “ 

I needed that moment to will myself to take the next step. I felt and ignored the mental offer from my partner to take over. I’d made the choice, so it would be my finger on the trigger. 

Since he’d put himself in contact with my hand I took advantage of that and let the energy inside me uncoil. The snap of enough electrical current to not just stop his heart but outright cook it slamming into him was oddly muted and there was only a pale glow around my fingers for a moment. The thought that I was definitely getting better at control of this helped distract me from the sick feeling of what I’d just done. 

Vampires are fast, fast enough that to normal human perceptions they seem to teleport and they have the reaction speed to match. The moment I killed the man in front of me Chris was moving in something that would have been a blur to anyone normal. 

As his fist lashed out at me I _moved_, flicking to one side just as fast as he was, getting clear of the wall so that I had some room to work with. He spun to face me and snarled, “Heretic!” 

I forced a grin, “One of these days somebody really needs to tell me why people keep calling me that.” I flickered forwards, lashing out with a punch to the head that he shifted slightly to dodge. If I was being a proper superhero I should have had some cheesy one-liner here but I was trying really hard not to think about what I’d just done, and what I was about to do. 

He came at me and it was increasingly clear he knew a lot less about how to fight than I had learned from my few years of self-defence, “Fuck you bitch.” 

Krav Maga isn’t much of a defensive style so much as an offensive style, either you’re putting somebody down or you’re running for it. I threw a couple more strikes to distract him and he totally missed my foot lashing out to take his knee out. If they can’t walk, then they can’t chase you, or fight back nearly as well. That’s one of the early things they teach you. More thoughts to distract myself from what was about to happen and I needed the distraction, I could feel myself trying to lock up. 

He screamed and tried a few more frantic blows but nothing that could stop me from grabbing him by the head. All I could say was “Sorry.” Another muted crack that I knew I’d be hearing in my nightmares and he was gone. 

My name is Felicity Lillian Chambers, and I’m a magical girl that fights monsters. 

_Dammit, there were three._

What? I turned towards the alley entrance to see another figure looking at me with wide eyes, revealing his nature a moment later as he turned inhumanly fast to run. _Shit._ I considered letting him go but he’d seen too much. There was no way I’d easily catch him, but I did have other options. 

I moved my hands though a couple of quick circular motions leaving trails of crackling energy behind and brought two fingers up to aim at his back in a move I unashamedly stole from a cartoon. It was stupid but it helped me focus and when it came to ranged attacks with this I needed all the help I could get. My aim was lousy. 

All this became a moot point a moment later as he reached the t-intersection at the far end of the alley we were in and let out a faint glurk sound as he ran into a sword neck first. 

The owner of said sword walked around the corner a moment later, giving the vampire a quick look to confirm that yes she had just taken his head off before looking over at me with a raised eyebrow and my fingers complete with crackling aura now pointed at her. 

_That’s not a vampire._

_Ah, it seems the school has found us._

I didn’t release the charge but I did move my wrist to point up at the sky, “Ah, hi. Just to check we’re not about to fight are we?” 

I guessed her age at her mid-thirties, and her features were sharply aristocratic, with high cheekbones, blonde hair tied into a tight braid, and piercing green eyes. She wore a pitch-black suit with an equally dark shirt beneath it, and a thin red tie. Her hands were covered by dark red gloves, one of which was still holding her sword which she had lowered to be beside her, “I would hope not Miss Chambers. I came here to talk to you, not fight you.” 

I let the charge dissipate, “I’ll be with you in a moment.” Then I walked over to a dumpster and, trying to be as controlled and professional about it as possible, threw up into it. 

When I straightened up a damp cloth was handed to me which I took gratefully and used to wipe my face, “Ah, so I don’t think I’ve met you, but you obviously know me.” 

This would be the first real test for the bracelet I was wearing. It had belonged to my mother so it had a lot of emotional significance for that reason, but in this case the important came from the carefully laid enchantments on it, the ones that we really hoped would be fooling the lie-detection powers the woman I wasn’t supposed to know about was using on me. 

She gave me a small smile, “My name is Virginia Dare and I am the instructor of both fencing and American History in Crossroads Academy, a school that trains people to fight monsters and protect bystanders from them. We’ve been following you for a little while and were going to introduce ourselves in the near future… “ she looked around at the alley, “I apologize that I did not step in much faster, you’ve never killed somebody before have you?” 

_You should have let me take over._

_I don’t get a choice in this Theia, you know that. It was always going to be when, not if, something like this happened._

_It will get easier._

_I know, and that scares me._

I slowly shook my head letting the shivers come, “I … I’ve killed creatures before, that’s all I was expecting to find on this trip. You get some weird things that … people just seem to see them as cats or dogs or rats and … “ 

She gave me a sympathetic nod, “We should probably go somewhere else to talk. There is a cafe nearby we can have enough privacy, we should certainly get out of this alley.” She looked around, “I will ensure things are cleaned up. Don’t worry, you’re not in any trouble.” 

I let her guide me out and it mostly wasn’t faked. They were evil, they were going to mug me and rape me and probably kill me but … they were people, and I ended them. I started shivering more and she put an arm around my shoulder as we left the alley. 

* * *

About 10 minutes later we were sitting in a quiet cafe, my hands clenched around the large mostly empty glass of lemonade she’d gotten for me. The coin sitting in the middle of the table was apparently ensuring nobody else would listen in or pay too much attention to things like the panic attack I’d just finished having. 

_Just breathe Felicity, just breathe._

Her voice was still calm and soothing and I got the strong feeling she was honestly concerned for me which was nice, “It’s alright that you feel terrible, you’ve been through a very traumatic experience.” 

I blinked, “Not as traumatic as theirs … “ huh, I could still make jokes. I guess that was a good sign. I think that was a joke. “Ah … you said I wasn’t in trouble. Are you some kind of supernatural police?” 

“We are the closest equivalent, though we’re not government backed. They are no more aware of the magical world than the rest of the public. We’re not really police, we are hunters. We find Strangers like those vampires that prey on humanity and destroy them.” 

I looked up at her, “What about the other ones? There are a lot of other non humans around, they don’t seem to bother anyone else and I don’t bother them. I tried talking to a few but they leave as soon as they work out I can see them … and what's a Heretic?” 

_I am honestly curious how she’s going to spin this._

_She might try telling the truth._

_That would be novel._

She gave me a considering look, “That is a simple question with a very complex answer. You’re aware of the people that call themselves Alters, their own name for anything that isn’t human, and you just had your first encounter with what are called Nocen, literally evil ones. Another term useful to know is Bystanders, our term for the vast majority of humanity that isn’t aware of Alters and can’t see them even if they walk in front of them, a phenomenon we call the Bystander Effect.” 

_Lords … she’s going with the truth. I did not plan for that._ Every good magical girl needs a talking animal, or in this case a snarky voice in my head with a pronounced tendency towards the cynical. 

I nodded slowly, none of this was actually news to me but it was important she believed it was or questions would come up like ‘how did you know’ and I was pretty sure ‘Well, I have a fallen angel in my head and she tells me things.’ wouldn’t go down well. “Okay, it’s good to know the terms. Are all vampires ‘Nocen’ … those were vampires right, with the fangs and everything?” 

“Ah, no. Nocen refers to evil individuals or groups, not normally entire species. They were Nocen because they were evil, they just also happened to be vampires.” she paused to think “All Alters have some form of special power, or several. Vampires have their speed for example.” 

“And those weird lizard things from a couple of weeks ago could breathe fire.” Those things had been a pain to fight, unreasonably tough critters that I’d had to resort to stabbing and then electrocuting the knife blade. 

She smiled, “Ah, that’s what you were after that time, we were not quite sure. So, humans have one special ability, if they get the blood of an Alter inside them this sometimes grants them some of that Alter’s powers, and more can develop over time. It also makes them immune to the Bystander Effect and lets them use magic like that coin. The most widely used term for these people, like you and me, is Heretics.” She paused for a moment. ”On that note, we’ve not been able to work out how you gained your powers.” 

This was the biggest hole in the whole scheme. She seemed to be above board but I was a long way off trusting her enough with ‘I did a blood-sister oath with my adopted younger sister who turned out to be an Alter’, and we didn’t have any way to fake an encounter with something so ‘weird mystery’ was our best option. “I don't know. I mean I woke up one day and things were different. I tried showing dad what I could do and it’s the first time I’ve ever gotten anything past him.” 

A blink was as far as she went for showing surprise. “That’s unexpected. You really have no idea?” 

I shrugged, “Some really weird dreams but nothing clear enough to describe something from. I’m sorry I can’t help more … since then, well, I started seeing other things and ended up seeing if I could find out anything more because the Internet didn’t have much to say, ran into some really weird and aggressive critters while trying to figure out my powers and “ I spread my hands out then paused, “Which means either something happened and I forgot, or somebody snuck into my room to do this and that’s very creepy.” 

_Technically there is an Alter that watches you while you sleep._

_You’re my sister, that’s totally different._

She nodded, “Indeed it is.” She looked a little less certain for a moment, “I need to explain to you why most Alters are afraid of you.” 

_Oh, this should be interesting._

“I had been wondering about that. Having a sweet little old lady, scales or not, run away from you like you’re going to murder her is a bit … disconcerting.” 

Virginia winced a little, “I can imagine. The problem started with how Natural Heretics, like you and myself get our powers. In my case it was by surviving when the place I grew up was destroyed, many Natural Heretics have similar stories. Their first encounter with finding out that another world exists is hostile and traumatic, it’s very easy to think that all Alters are evil after that.” 

“But … I’ve seen Alters that just seem to want to live their lives, not hurting anyone.” 

She nodded, “Yes, and a lot of them do, but there are enough Nocen out there that are monsters, that use their powers and effective invisibility to do whatever they want, that somebody who runs into them on a regular basis could think the others are just waiting for the right time to attack. A serial killer doesn’t spend all the time killing people, but they are still a killer that needs to be put down.” 

That made a horrible kind of sense. 

“More recently the situation has become worse because it’s not just Natural Heretics anymore. There is a kind of Alter called a Reaper, they ‘feed’ off death, they don’t kill people they just hang around where death happens. But there is another version of them, a nocen called a Hangman. They do not wait for death to happen, they cause it, and when they kill something they absorb their powers, similar to how we got our powers in a sense. 

“A man named Hieronymus Bosch was attacked by and managed to kill a Hangman and became a Natural Heretic in the process but also gained their power to kill other Alters to take their abilities in turn. Later in his life he created an item we call the Heretical Edge from the remains of the Hangman which allowed the creation of what are now just called Heretics, people that are no longer affected by the Bystander Effect, can use magic … and if they kill an Alter will gain some part of one of the Alter’s abilities. It’s not nearly as efficient as a what a Natural Hangman Heretic gains but is still allows somebody to become very powerful over time.” 

_I wonder if she knows that it’s not the truth of what really happened._

_Yeah. I have a feeling that ‘The secret behind his genius was being possessed by the Greek God of the Forge’ might not play so well with the All Alters are Evil Camp._ At this point I didn’t know if she was deliberately choosing to give me the ‘public’ version of history or I might myself know more than she did about the history of her own organisation. It said something that ‘there is a magical world under the surface that normal people can’t see’ was only the first level of a mess of conspiracies and secret histories. Thanks to my sister I knew far more about them then I honestly wished I did. 

I asked the obvious question, “This means that Heretics can be created that don’t have the same messy history of most Naturals. Shouldn’t that make them more likely to not feel the urge to attack Alters on sight?” 

A sigh, “You would think that, but the Edge and Crossroads Academy were founded by people with histories that told them all Alters, or as they call them Strangers, are evil. And they have passed this onto their students. Worse yet Heretics created by the Edge sense Alters on sight, and the ‘ping’ is two-way, so the Alter knows a Heretic has found them and far too often their only option is to run, or fight back.” 

Theia’s mental voice was sad, _When my people set a system up we set it up well. Indoctrination, the reaper ping, everything set up to make sure the ‘us or them’ mindset is as strong as possible._

This was an old argument between us, _You are not your people Theia, this is a system that’s been running for hundreds of years, thousands if you count the Bystander Effect, you’re not even 30._ Yes, the voice in my head is older than me, there is an interesting story behind that. For the time being let’s just say I have something in common with Hieronymus Bosch. 

I gave her a level look, “And you work there. You’re one of the people training Heretics to go out and kill everything non-human. This sounds like something I should be fighting against.” 

Her face was calm, “Yes it is, and I want your help to fight it from within. You were already a candidate for Crossroads before you became a Heretic, now you are certain to be brought in for your own protection. We need you, there are very few of us that know the truth, that know things must change. We’re doing our best to find others that will understand, that have friendly relationships with Alters or otherwise know that not all Alters are the enemy. With enough people we can change our society from within, turn Crossroads into the force for good it should be.” 

_Ya know, that she had this attitude would have been useful to know a few years ago._

_A few years ago I was still a Bystander and thought you were just my imaginary friend._

_If we’d known this Tabbris and I might have bonded you and dad quite a bit earlier. If I’d known this back when Tabbris and I were in Crossroads pretending to be human we could have done things entirely differently._

_Does this mean we should trust her with the truth?_

_Not yet. We don’t know that she doesn’t have somebody else in her head. My people are far too good at hiding._

When I was seven years old my mother ran out on dad and I and I swore I would never forgive her for that. 

When I was ten I got a younger sister and unknowingly picked up a guest in my head. 

When I was thirteen a desperately lonely girl got a voice in my head that slowly convinced her that maybe she’d been wrong about her mother. 

Six months ago I became a Natural Heretic and was told the truth that my mother was taken from me, probably by the worst person in the world and somebody I had no hope of winning against. 

I needed more power, I needed allies, I needed Crossroads. So I let her talk me into what had been my goal since before I started going out hunting monsters. 

“When my mother became a sheriff it was so she could protect people. I’m pretty sure she’d want me to do the same here. I’ll come to Crossroads.” 


	2. Ambush 1.02

[Saturday, August 5, 2017] 

So when Virginia was asking if I wanted to come to Crossroads she apparently meant right away, at least if only for a quick visit. 

I got to see my first portal, which was honestly a lot less interesting than I expected. She took us into an alley and opened a door that should have led back into the cafe but instead led into a fairly plain room which we stood in for a few moments before heading out though some more doors and corridors, finally coming out the front entrance of a distinctly odd building shaped like an eight story tall lowercase T, the cross-stoke at the sixth story. 

_So we just walked through a lot of security that didn’t see me and I’m pretty sure they didn’t see the bracelet. _One would hope so because otherwise some really awkward questions would come up. 

_Given you’ve apparently walked through this place in your own skin and they didn’t notice, it’s hardly a shock you managed to do it while hidden in my head. _Theia had had a physical body once. I had a long-term hope we could get her back into it at some point, for her sake, but there were some major … complications there that would be a pain to work around. 

_Yes. Almost the most secure location this school has and I managed to walk right through it without them noticing a thing. The rest of my people can do the same, Don’t trust any school provided security further than you have to. _Always the lessons, but she was right. This was enemy territory and my only defence was to not get caught in the first place. 

Virginia stopped once we were outside and pointed back at the building we had come from, “We call this the Pathmaker, its main function is to create portals like the one we just used to get here.” Then she gave a wave of her hand indicating the area in front of us, “Welcome, Miss Chambers, to the island that we call home.” 

I had seen pictures, even shared some of Theia’s memories of her time here. They did not measure up to the reality. 

We were on the side of a grass-covered mountain that overlooked an absolutely breathtaking beach, what looked like a small six-story palace at the top of the mountain with walls of white marble and gargoyle statues on the roof. Other buildings were scattered around, of comparatively mundane brick and wood. The distant beach looked like a utopia. The kind of impossible perfection you saw when people took pictures of the most beautiful beaches in the world and then photoshopped them to take out all those little imperfections. The way the clear blue water lapped up against that white sand, the idyllic palm trees, a paradise that couldn't exist in the real world. 

Theia's tone was soft, _I missed this place. It was nice here._

_Weren't you and Tabbris hiding from your own species in a place full of people that would kill you without hesitation if they realised neither of you were human?_

_The past six years in your head where I haven’t had to worry that the slightest mistake will get me or somebody I care about killed are still a bit weird. Being back here is oddly relaxing._

_Your mother really fucked you up._

_That is the truth._

Wide cobblestone paths led between the buildings and she set off towards the palace at the top of the mountain. Past the palace and visible in other directions was a red brick wall that seemed to surround the entire school with a thick jungle beyond it. The sounds from the jungle were oddly muted by the environmental dome I wasn't supposed to know about yet. The same thing was keeping me from getting overheated by the tropical sun that should be cooking me right now. Magic was awesome and getting to learn it was one part of coming here that I had no regrets about. 

As I followed after her she spoke up, "Now that you're here I should explain things." 

_Ah, here comes the official story. Take notes, there will be a quiz later. _

"The term we call ourselves, Heretic, comes from two sources. The root term is a Greek word meaning 'choice', and we are the ones that choose to follow this life, to go through the training, to separate ourselves from society and put ourselves between those that would destroy us for following forbidden teachings and the monsters that would consume the world. By definition our teachings are heretical because the talk about things that most people find it impossible to remember let alone accept." 

I nodded, "And the monsters?" 

"They go by many names and take many forms. Collectively we call them Strangers. To Bystanders they don't exist, even looking at one they won't see it for what it is. Their minds filling it in to be something normal, something horrific but mundane. Sometimes ghost memories will survive, from this we get legends like vampires, aliens, demons, but the truth is something far different." 

I had to stop for a moment, "Yeah, I kinda picked up on that the vampire had a heartbeat ... before I ..." 

_Breath Felicity, just breath._

Virginia gave me time to collect myself, "We have several therapists here, I can arrange for you to talk to one before you leave today, it could help." She sighed, "I wish I could say this is the last time you will have to do something like that but we exist to stop them, no matter what form they take be it harmless to look at, or horrific. They are all Strangers, all the enemy of everything we care about. The moment they know what you are, what you can do, they will either attack or run so they can do their damage elsewhere, and you will need to be ready to destroy them at the first opportunity." 

_It’s depressing how easily she can say that._ Theia’s tone was morbid. _I can understand it though, under the right situation you have to get very good at believably saying things you don’t believe._

This was the 'truth' that almost everyone else here was taught: that everything non-human was an enemy, either an immediate threat or waiting for the moment your guard was down. 

_It's a sad life thinking everyone, everything, is the enemy._

_Not everyone, not anymore. And we can find your old friends here, Sarah and Sandoval._

_Speaking of people that would have killed me if they knew what I was._

_We’ll have to see if I can talk them around a bit. I’ve got a family legacy in that area to live up to._

Joselyn Chambers, nee Atherby. I’m not sure if mom was the founder or just a very active member of the group Virginia was asking me into, but she had been a student at this very school a century ago. A Heretic that knew that not all Alters were the enemy. She had protected them when she could, brought others to her side, and saved as many people as she could. She had been so good at it that they had not only banished her from here, sent to live as an ignorant Bystander stripped of her powers, but had removed everyone else’s memory of her as well so her mission would be lost with her. 

As far as almost everyone knew my mother was just another Bystander. But thanks to my sisters I knew the truth. She was a hero and I was going to do my best to live up to her example. Starting with finding Theia’s oldest living friends and convincing them that just because the girl they had known as Alyson wasn’t human didn’t mean she was bad. I had to start somewhere, and getting Theia her friends back was as good a start as I could think of. 

While thinking about this I’d been following Virginia in silence and she’d been willing to give me some space to think about what had happened in the alley. “I … I might take you up on that at some point. Not today, I think I need to think about this myself before I talk to anyone else.” 

She nodded, “The offer will remain open. In the meantime the Headmistress wished to meet you. If you do join us here you will be something of a special case. You’re far from the first Natural Heretic student we’ve had, but they have always had unique factors to their situation.” 

_Does she know about mom?_

_Almost certainly, there is no way they would have sent someone ignorant to meet with you._

The massive doors at the front of the palace started to swing open as we approached. She gestured to the building, “This is primary academics. You will have your basic math, science, and other such lessons here. It is also where the faculty offices are.” Which explained why we were here, though given how much the building stood out there was no way the Headmistress wasn't based in it. 

The palace, or Primary Academics, didn't get any less impressive on the inside as we walked into a large entryway with expensive-looking leather couches along both walls, divided by gold-plated suits of armor that stood at attention with alternating swords and spears. Overhead a series of elaborate chandeliers provided the lighting. I didn't even want to try and guess at the cost of this place, and that was before we got to the enchantments that were undoubtedly layered on it. 

Virginia led us into the building, past corridors lined with mirrors and doors that led into empty classrooms, up several flights of large stairs till arriving outside a door simply labeled ‘Headmistress’. Virginia smiled, "You'll like this bit." Then she knocked on the door. 

The door itself dissolved before my eyes, like a waterfall that gradually stopped to reveal the room beyond. Okay that was honestly cool. 

_I've never actually been here, she always came to see me. I have to say, it's not bad._

That was an understatement. We walked into the massive room that was far bigger than should have fit here. My first exposure to a large scale expanded space effect. The ceiling itself stretched up thirty feet above my head, sloping into a dome shape. Across the dome I could see a holographic globe of the world, rotating at a slow, steady pace. Here and there random flares of green, yellow, or red would pop up at various spots, and once in awhile, the flare would turn gold before disappearing. 

_Strategic planetary reports, I assume the gold flare means Heretics dealt with it._

Meanwhile, the room itself was divided into two equal levels. On the level I was on, the floor was covered in a thick, soft white carpet. The walls were wood with several paintings that seemed to be an equal mix of brilliant artists that were probably worth thousands if not millions of dollars, and the kind of amateurish stuff that could have come straight from my family’s fridge while I was in preschool. I was willing to bet a bunch of them were just that. Theia had given me first hand memories of how the Headmistress was around children like her and my younger sister. 

The upper level was accessible through two different sets of stairs that led to a sort of landing that ran all the way around with a waist-high guard rail and open space in the middle that allowed someone to see the domed ceiling from the lower level. Against the walls of that upper level I could see bookshelves. Lots of bookshelves, all heavily laden with their contents to the point of sagging a bit. 

_We have got to get on her good side so we can read some of those._

_Not wanting to break in?_

_The list of places in this school I cannot break into is very small. This room is the top of that list. She'll have set up the security here personally, if we can trust her then this is probably the safest place from the Imperium in the school. If we can trust her._

That was the question, and I had a missing mother that made me reluctant to take that step without a lot more proof. 

The woman in question was standing in front of what had to be her desk on the lower level at the back of the room, about sixty feet away. It was directly in front of a series of floor to ceiling windows that stretched the entire eighty foot width of the room. Each window was about four feet wide, and each displayed a completely different view. One showed the middle of a jungle, while the one directly next to it showed a busy street in what looked like New York City. Meanwhile, another showed an alley that looked very familiar. 

_If she’s willing to bring us in this far do we want to tell her about mom’s note?_

_I think it might be worth seeing her reaction._

She gave me a smile, “Hello Felicity, I am Gaia Sinclaire and I run Crossroads. I’m very glad that you agreed to come and talk with me.” Ignoring the desk she led the three of us over to a table with three comfortable looking chairs already in place. “Please have a seat. I understand Virginia has already apologised but I would like to add my own that we allowed things to get to that point.” She nodded to the window showing the alley where the bodies and damage had already been cleaned up, “We were monitoring the situation but things moved unexpectedly quickly.” 

_Huh. I’m pretty sure they didn’t expect you to move that quickly. She was plenty close enough to kill all three vampires before they got past threats._

_But not before I …_

_Don’t blame yourself Felicity. They chose to put you in a situation where you had to defend yourself._

I felt Virginia take my hand as I started to have another small freak-out and guide me into the chair. “Just breath, deep breaths … there, that’s better.” She said as she sat down next to me which did help. I expect I wasn’t the first student of hers she’d had to help though a moment like this. 

The headmistress waited for me to get myself together before talking, “We can speak freely here. I just want to introduce myself and make sure you understand what we are asking of you.” 

I took a few moments then looked at her, “You want me to go through classes where I’m going to be trained to kill anything non-human and not let on that I’m not a racist? I think I get that bit. I’m guessing it’s going to be dangerous too, if most Heretics are happy to kill any Alter that gets in their way I’m going to assume they don’t take well to traitors?” 

She didn’t noticeably react to the bluntness of my description but just nodded, “Yes. Normally if they found out your real thoughts they would banish you by putting you through the same process we use to grant powers in reverse, stripping you of any powers you had acquired, wiping your memory of your time here, and making you a Bystander again. They can’t do that with you because you’re a Natural Heretic, the most they can do is strip the powers you would have gotten here.” 

_And good luck trying to wipe your mind and make it stick. I dare them to come up with anything I can’t fix afterwards._

Her slight smile faded, “There is a very real chance that if you are caught you could be killed.” 

Well, I couldn’t say she was sugarcoating it. “I assume you two are at the same risk if I get caught and they find out how I got here?” 

Gaia nodded, “Yes, we are putting a great deal of trust in you but I’m willing to take that risk.” She gave that a moment to sink in, “There is an option you can consider. We do train up some Natural Heretics that choose not to go through the Heretical Edge. They are considered to be throwing away a chance at power by most here but there are also advantages. Mainly you are comparatively invisible, you’ll not have the ability to detect alters on sight, but they won’t be able to tell you by sight either.” 

I’d known that was technically an option, I hadn’t expected her to offer it though. She was being a lot more open about everything that Theia and I had expected, though Theia would be the first to admit she had a low opinion of people. Still, if she was going this far, then I could throw them a bone of my own. 

“I’ll have to think about that. I’ve got a question of my own though. Your name is fairly unique, but I’ve seen it before. When my mother disappeared the very last thing she wrote for me was ‘You can trust Gaia.’ in a place I wouldn’t find it till years later. I don’t suppose you might have any reason why your name might the one thing she wanted to make sure I’d find?” 

There was a long pause as they looked at each other. 

_Ha! We can surprise them._

The headmistress was the first to speak, "Magic is a vast and amazing thing, you can do impossible wonders with it and terrible acts. To use a random example it is possible, with massive amounts of effort, to use magic to hide a concept, be it an idea or a story." 

I gave her my best raised eyebrow, "Like the Fidelius Charm from Harry Potter?" 

She nodded, "Similar. The idea is that you take an idea that you don't want anyone to know about and you wrap it in a massive spell, anyone that wasn't part of the casting or specifically excluded from it will forget everything related to the idea you hid. People that were part of the casting can't tell anyone that doesn't already know the idea, the magic will prevent them remembering, it's like a very focused version of the Bystander Effect. I've always assumed spells like that were inspired by it." 

_Technically the other way around. The Bystander Effect is the ... second largest Mnemosyne Spell that I know of. Tabbris is named after the caster of the largest._

I was going to have to ask her for that story sometime. 

It was Virginia’s turn, "Somebody covered by the spell can still learn things separately. They just can't directly be told." 

I looked at the two of them, “So hypothetically speaking you might have known mom but a spell is stopping you talking about it.” 

Gaia gave me a small smile, “I couldn’t possibly say.” 

Virginia looked up at the globe above, “On a totally unrelated note, the school records in the security room are protected from all sorts of magical tampering. A prevention to stop students or anyone else interfering with them, though any records are only unaltered in the room. They are however closely monitored.” 

It was my turn to give her a look, then I nodded. It was time for a question I didn’t know the answer to, not for sure, “You’ve looked into my background … my mother apparently left dad and I for another person. Without going into how you know anything, do you think that’s what happened?” 

“No” Gaia’s tone was firm, “There is not a chance that she would abandon you like that.” 

Virginia was nodding, “None at all.” 

Theia had been telling me this for years but the absolute certainty from both both of these women that had worked with mom for most of a century was comforting. 

_I told you. Joselyn Atherby, or Joselyn Chambers, she would never abandon her family._

She’d never told me why she was so certain, because she couldn’t. The Mnemosyne spell they had just told me about wasn’t the only one in effect, and Theia hadn’t managed to get past the other one yet. Assuming there was only one. People seem to throw those things around annoyingly often where my life is involved. 

I slowly nodded, “Okay … then somebody took her. Somebody that could force her to lie to me, but still leave a message to find you. Somebody I assume related to her _perfectly mundane history_.” 

“Yes. We don’t know who, there are sadly too many options.” Gaia’s reply was careful, which was good because I was honestly pissed off. These were the people that were supposed to keep her revolution going but they were also, I assume, supposed to look after her. Stop her, for example, getting kidnapped by the most evil necromancer on the planet. 

I leaned back in the chair, thinking out loud, “Mom had enemies, lots of them … she got herself banished and wiped from people’s memory … you were very willing to trust me with your plans.” I looked at the two of them, “Mom was part of this, yeah I know, you can neither confirm or deny … what I want to know is _where were you?_ Somebody took her, somebody from the history that doesn’t exist came and took her. Why wasn’t she watched?” 

Gaia was picking her words with more care in front of my anger, “Somebody that had caused problems on a large scale would be watched by several groups … To get past them, the enemy would be skilled and powerful. We’re not perfect.” Her regret was obvious, hers and Virginia’s. 

_I think they honestly did do their best. Fossor is … the Empire has been trying to wipe him out for a long time, among other things I think Hades takes him as a personal insult. Fossor is hard to stop when he gets going._

_Then they should have been better._ I wasn’t ready to let this go yet. 

“I … I assume suspicious events around a student’s parents would get investigated? And if something weird has already happened, like missing mothers or unexpected Natural Heretics, there might be extra security?” 

Extra security was honestly going to be a problem, but I had a part to play here. 

Gaia’s nod was firm, “We will investigate to the full extent of our abilities and ensure your family is protected.” 

I slowly nodded, “Good … they're all I have left. I don’t have a choice about getting involved in this, “ I waved a hand at the room, “They can still stay out of it.” 

It looked like the anti-lie-detector bracelet was working because both of them took that blatant fib at face value. Also the training in my family had given me in advanced untruths. My younger sister especially was disturbingly good at it, which made a sad kind of sense and at least she never used it on us. I think … I hope? I needed to talk to her at some point about that. 

Virginia gave me a comforting smile, “We will make sure of that. They will be safe.” 

I couldn’t help the slightly doubtful look I gave her, but I pushed the feelings down, “How will this work? My … double agent thing?” Well, triple at this point. 

Gaia took over the conversation, “Virginia will be your contact. It will be much easier for her to contact you than myself. For the safety of all involved I will not tell you who else I have around here unless it becomes directly useful.” She thought for a moment, “With one exception … Klassin Roe is one of the school’s therapists. You can trust him, fully. Among other things he takes patient confidentiality very seriously. It may be good for you to talk to him at some point.” 

“Ah … soon. Just not … now. I need to think about some of this … Don’t worry, I can keep it keep it hidden from dad. I’ve had to get good at that lately.” 

“If you are quite sure.” Gaia nodded slightly, “We will use our standard cover story, that you’ve been provided a full scholarship to a prestigious boarding school. I apologize but we’ll have to modify the memories of your family so they recall this having been set up for some time. Given your situation I feel that starting training early would be useful, so you’ll be making early trips to your new school on the weekends to get to know it. This does mean that you’ll need to stop your current hunting trips.” 

I gave an entirely real shudder, “I think I’m not going to want to do those for a bit. Not after … “ 

She had an understanding look, “If you want you can head directly back home now, but otherwise I’ve arranged for someone to give you a tour of the campus, two daughters of one of our teachers that will be in your year.” 

_You don’t think that will be …_

_How many twin girls of your age that happen to be related to teachers do you think they have here? I’ve been wanting to see them again._

_I’m glad. I know what they mean to you. It will be nice to get to meet them myself and not just in your memories._

“I think I’d like that … and a walk around might do me good right now.” 

“Very well. I thank you for agreeing to come to the school, and to help us. Virginia can introduce you to the Masons.” 

_Yep, it’s them._

_I don’t know how I feel about this._

_Happy. You should feel happy._

_I’m not … good at happy._

Well, at least one upside. Compared to helping my sister put her life back together, trying to fake out an entire society of monster hunters was feeling easy. 


	3. Ambush 1.03

[Saturday, August 5, 2017] 

_Oh. They’ve grown. I knew they would have but I hadn’t … it hasn’t been that long has it?_

_It’s been seven years, Theia._

I’d gotten memories of Sarah and Sandoval Mason from Theia, but as I said, it had been a while. The memories I had were of a pair of nine year olds, not a pair of identical and honestly quite pretty brunettes my age, with long straight hair and the same kind of brown eyes as me. They were probably about four inches shorter than me, putting them at an even five feet. I say them because if it hadn't been for their behaviour I couldn’t have told the difference between the two of them. 

They were talking to Virginia, who obviously knew them well and was, based on Theia’s stories of them, presumably giving them orders not to fire up the Heretical Edge to show me it or something equally crazy as we stood outside the front doors of the palace. Sorry, Primary Academics … still looked like a palace to me, even more so now that I’d seen the inside. 

One of the twins was doing all the talking while the other was almost hiding behind her. Based on Theia’s stories, I was guessing the one speaking was Sarah, though Theia had never described Sands as shy. 

_Oh. Oh Sarah, what happened to you?_

_Wait. That’s Sarah at the back? But … you described her as being like me, but more so._

_She was … What happened to her?_

This was really not good. I kind of felt like I half knew them already and I had been looking forwards to meeting those who had been so important to both my sisters. To see Sarah like this hurt … worse was that these were some of Theia’s oldest still living friends. Don’t ask about the not-living ones, I honestly wish I didn’t know the full details there. Theia was _very protective_ of people she cared about, and not always good at ‘restraint’ or ‘limited use of force’. 

It said something that her helping me beat my bullies up at school had been useful in teaching her how to hold back. 

Seriously though, once Theia got past the shock... 

**_I am going to find who did this and destroy them!_**

Yeah. That. 

Virginia gestured me over. At some point I was going to have to get used to calling her Professor Dare again, but after somebody helps you through a panic attack like I had at the café, you end up on first name terms. 

“Felicity, this is Sandoval and Sarah Mason. Sands, Scout, this is Felicity Chambers, recent Natural Heretic who will be joining Crossroads when the school year starts.” 

I ignored the voice in the back of my head who was ‘having a moment’ and gave my best smile, “Hi, my friends call me Flick. So I’m guessing you're used to this place?” 

Virginia gave us all a smile and then headed back into the building while Sands grinned, “Call me Sands, and she’s Scout. We grew up here, dad teaches English Literature. Welcome to Crossroads, Professor Dare said something about you fighting vampires?” Beside her, Sarah managed a small smile in greeting. 

I winced a little, “Ah yeah … I was out looking for weird critters and ran into … well, it got messy.” 

Sands sobered up, “Anytime Strangers are involved things get bad.” She elected to change the topic, “So what have you seen so far?” 

“Not a lot, Virg … um Professor Dare told me about the Pathfinder when we got here and we came directly to um, Primary Academics? I have to say, this place is amazing.” 

Sands grinned, “It really is, still sounds like we get to show you all of it. Come on, student accommodation is this way. Are you staying on campus?” 

“No, just visiting on weekends till the start of the school year proper … and I don’t think anyone told me when that was.” 

Sands led us directly across the grass, “It’s a month away, well, five weeks for us first years. They start us later than the rest. So this is where you’ll be staying when you start here properly … “ 

* * *

Theia had shown me pictures and even shared memories of this place, but it just wasn’t the same. Everything was perfect from the weather to the scenery and the facilities the twins showed me around were beyond top-notch. Even the entertainment systems in the commons area were the latest thing out in the Bystander world. Magical Britain this place was _not_. 

“And this is the Lighthouse. I’m guessing the professor told you about the Edge?” 

The building in question was a tall slim lighthouse right on the edge of the mountain looking out over the beach far below. “The Heretical Edge, your way for making somebody into a ‘reaper’ Heretic? Is there really a head in that thing?” 

_I don’t know how hard it was for the Empire to catch that, but I got the impression they lost quite a few people in the process. There are things worse to fight than a pissed off Reaper, but not many._

Sarah snickered a little while Sands nodded, “I’m told so, never seen it myself. We just call ourselves ‘Heretics’ as opposed to Natural Heretics like you.” 

Sarah leaned over to whisper in Sands ear. I had yet to hear a word out of her myself, a far cry from Theia’s stories of Sarah being the more talkative one of the pair. 

Sands looked at her then back at me, “Ah, I know it can be rude to ask, but … “ 

I shrugged, “We don’t know. I don’t even know how I got bonded, or whatever you call it when it happens. I literally woke up one morning with powers, which, based on what I’ve heard, today implies some Stranger snuck into my room and mixed its blood with mine and that is _exactly_ as creepy as it sounds.” I gave a not entirely faked shiver. 

_Tabbris walked up and did a blood-sister thing fair and square._

I’d just thought Tabbris was being cute at the time, and it wasn’t like the Bystander effect let her warn me. Still, even if I’d known I wouldn’t have said no, though it had taken a little to get used to the idea I wasn’t strictly speaking entirely human anymore. On the upside, Tabbris wasn’t just my adopted sister anymore, and that by itself would have made it all worth it. 

The two girls looked at me, looked at each other, then back at me, Sands saying, “Yeah, that’s pretty damn creepy.” She led us into the lighthouse, “So … on the subject of being a Natural Heretic … “ 

I smirked, “I seem to have gotten an insanely good sense of balance.” I proceeded to turn around and start walking up the spiral stairs backwards so I could talk face to face, “I’m pretty sure my reaction speed is up, and I can get really fast and stronger for short periods, but it tires me out. The big trick though is electricity.” I held up my hand in a V for Victory, and let an arc of electricity climb up between the fingers like a Jacob's ladder. 

They exchanged another look, “I’m guessing more than just some flashy effects?” 

I nodded, not bothering to turn around, “How do you think I managed to kill two vampires in close combat?” There was nothing at all fake about my shudder this time. “I can also throw lightning bolts if I try, but my aim is pretty bad.” The fact I had pretty much the same powers as the Natural Heretic ‘Alyson Holt’ had used during her time at Crossroads was a risk, but one we had to live with. 

The lightning was a real giveaway, but it was the best power of Theia’s I could use. I couldn’t rely on just my inheritance from Tabbris because I really didn’t want Theia’s species thinking I’d gotten my powers from one of them. 

Especially when I had. 

The two people I was talking to were also the people I was hoping might make that connection. If there was anyone in this entire school I wanted to be able to tell my secrets to, it was them. Theia deseved to have her friends back. 

I turned around as we reached the top coming out onto a wide platform with an amazing view over the entire area and an old light in the middle, “So this is where the magic happens?” 

Sands nodded, “Yeah. We’ve been given specific orders not to try and use it … and it’s locked anyway.” Sarah rolled her eyes a little at that last bit. 

_Bet you I could get past that._

_We will let them infuse us with unnaturally stolen powers by way of Hephaestus’s creation in their own good time._

I took a long look at the Edge, then wandered over to look out at the view which was well worth it. “Normal Earth must seem very drab if you grew up here.” 

Sands shrugged as she walked over to look out at the view, “You get used to this place. The world is a big place … Scout and I try to keep up to date on Bystander stuff too. This place can be a hell of a learning curve to get used to.” 

I nodded, “Yeah, it’s a bit overwhelming.” I decided to go and jump on a conversational land-mine. I needed to know for sure, for both my sisters’ sakes. 

I turned to face them, “So your dad is a professor here, what does your mom do?” 

From seeing what Sarah was like I’d known something bad had happened, the way both of them closed up made it pretty clear that Larissa had been involved. 

_I will miss her. She was good to us._

I was already starting to wilt a bit from their reaction, I mean I’d had a bit of hope but … 

Sands quietly said, “She’s not with us anymore. Stranger attack.” 

I wilted more. _I’m sorry Theia. _“Sorry for bringing it up. My mother is gone too, just vanished when I was seven, I really don’t know if she’s alive or not.” Admitting that last bit hurt … and what was worse was that mom being dead could honestly be a better situation than some of the other options. 

The two of them blinked at me and for the first time Sarah said something loud enough for me to hear, “Never forget them.” 

I nodded, “Never.” 

_I’m getting very tired of losing the people I care about Felicity. So very tired._

There was a very long pause and I grabbed for a topic change, “So, is there a firing range around here I can throw lightning bolts at? Want to laugh at how bad my aim is?” 

* * *

The wooden target broke in half as my bolt slammed into it, both parts catching on fire briefly before the firing ranges magic restored the entire target to an intact state, helpfully noting on a display next to us exactly where I hit. 

That may sound impressive, but a quick look at the display showed that was both my fifth shot and the first to even hit the target. I gave my hands a shake. I always got a tingle in them after I’d been throwing a lot of power around. Theia told me it was just psychosomatic but that didn’t stop it happening. 

_Stop rubbing at your hands, you’ll give yourself a complex. Also we are going to be doing a lot of target training in the future now that you have somewhere to practice properly._

The twins were giving me a very long look before Sands carefully asked, “Were you just lightning-bending?” 

_Theia?_

_Did I not mention Sandoval was the one that introduced me to that show?_

_No, no you did not. One might think you set this up deliberately._

There was a mildly guilty silence in my head after that. “Yeah. I know it’s kinda silly looking but it really does help me focus.” I raised a hand up, pointing with just one finger this time and fired another bolt with none of the fancy-lead in. It lashed out as an unstoppable bolt of energy … and missed the entire target by a good couple of feet to slam into the backstop, leaving no trace. “And I need all the help aiming I can get.” 

Sarah just nodded at my show of terrible aim, which the display was helpfully reporting in annoying detail. 

Sands was giving me a very considering look, “So just lightning and speed and the balance?” 

“I think the balance is just to keep me from tripping over when I move too fast. I can make myself stronger too but only for short bursts.” The boost was one of the signature tricks of Theia’s species, but ‘getting fast and strong’ for a short period was pretty wide-spread. The vampires I’d fought for example could do the same thing at the risk of getting really hungry if they pushed it. 

Sarah leaned over to whisper in Sands’s ear for a moment before Sands nodded and said, “We’ve seen somebody with powers like that in the past, another Natural Heretic. The theory is she was a Stardrinker Heretic, and it matches with the lightning and speed … mostly. It’s the best theory anyone came up with.” 

_Huh. They did find something close enough to my displayed powers, I had always wondered. A Stardrinker could work, powerful enough to fit with my cover story of almost all of the Heretics I was living with getting killed._

That said a lot about the culture we were about to become a part of. The easy way to explain a couple of children showing up at Crossroads with no family … Strangers got them. It was, I expected, depressingly common. 

“Huh. Are they still around? I might want to compare notes. That was my flashiest trick … I’m playing around with a lightning aura thing, but right now it’s got an annoying tendency to trash everything that isn’t me … and I mean everything, so strictly for emergencies right now.” I wasn’t kidding about everything either, I still missed that top. 

Sands frowned, “No. We don’t know if they are still alive … there was an attack, no body was found but...” She gave a ‘what can you do’ shrug, “If you ever run into a Natural Heretic named Alyson Holt, she can probably give you some tips.” Sarah leaned over to whisper in Sands’s ear, “And be polite. She’s got much better aim than you do.” 

_Damn right I do._

I blinked at them, “You two are great for making sure I don’t get overconfident … I’m not even being sarcastic here, it’s honestly useful. I’m still trying to switch gears from ‘new superhero’ to ‘monster hunter going after really dangerous monsters’. I think I was prepared for the wrong genre.” 

Sands managed a small smile, “Yeah, this is Crossroads. Around here horror movies are study material.” 

“I’m going to assume they give us a lot of training. What’s that old saying, the more you sweat the less you bleed? I think I’ll be doing a lot of training, I kind of like not being dead.” 

I get a serious look from Sands, “Good. That’s an important lesson to learn.” Sarah leaned over to whisper in her ear, Sands blinking and then nodding, “Speaking of lessons, could you possibly help proofread something for us?” 

* * *

“And you’re saying the two of you did this yourself?” I had finished reading the pamphlet, almost a small booklet really, they had handed me. It called itself the Bystanders Guide to Heretic Society and that was exactly what it was. Centered more on Crossroads, but it was full of little bits about how their society worked, with a focus on the differences between it and most Bystander backgrounds. It was honestly pretty useful, especially for me because it gave me an excuse to know some things I’d already been told by Theia. 

_I think Sarah did most of the writing, it feels like her style more than Sands, but both of them were involved._

Sands nodded, “Yep. You’re the first Bystander to read that version, so we really need to know if it makes sense. We want to have it ready for when this year starts so we can unofficially hand it out to the Bystander-kin.” 

I flicked back to the maps of Crossroads in general and the buildings we got taught in most of the time that filled up the last few pages. “Unofficially?” 

_Huh, they rearranged the training rooms since I was here._

She frowned, Sarah looking even more annoyed, “There is pushback from the staff member in charge of this kind of thing. He thinks the idea is good but wants a ‘proper’ one done officially by professionals and not by a couple of students. Also there are arguments over how we present Eden’s Garden. On the other hand most of the rest of the staff are behind it, dad’s fully on board and the Headmistress approves.” 

I flicked back to that section, “Eden’s Garden, that’s the competition?” 

There was a nod, “The school prefers people not know about them too soon. We think that’s stupid because you never know if you might run into somebody from there. Also we tried to keep to known facts and stay away from the more crazy rumours about them actively working with Strangers against humans or experiments trying to create hybrids between Strangers and Heretics.” 

_Yeah, because you totally can’t cross-breed a human and an Alter._

_That wouldn’t fit in with the ‘inhuman monsters’ situation my people set up. Also the Edge won’t accept a hybrid, Hephaestus made very sure of that. Among other things, you don’t want to be empowering warriors that might be more loyal to their Alter parent than some abstract concept of ‘all Strangers are evil’._

Theia’s species had been doing what they did to shape Heretic society for a very long time and were annoyingly good at it. Much as the idea of bringing it all down the way mom almost managed was a nice one, for now I had to focus on getting good enough to protect my own family. 

“So you managed to investigate them?” _Theia, do I officially know anything about them yet?_

_Ah, no._

_Oops. I need to get better at that._

_Yes you do._

Sands smirked, “While we don’t officially interact much, in practice our people run into their people, so if you get people into a storytelling mood you can find out all sorts of things. Apparently they live on this giant city-sized tree, I’d like to see it someday.” 

_You’ve never been there have you?_

_No, though I’m curious about the place. I’ve seen pictures, the tree is something else._

“So if I ever do run into somebody from there?” 

She frowned, “It can be kinda random. The American Revolution was a _side effect_ of the last time us and them seriously fought and for some people the war never ended. I think for most of them we’re just a different faction fighting on the same general side.” Sands gave a small shrug, “I guess be polite and don’t start a fight, but be on guard in case they start one.” 

I nodded, “So what’s next?” 

Sarah gave her sister a poke and pointed, the two of us looked to see a very upright looking man in a suit walking our way. Both of the girls were frowning, Sands saying, “Oh, him … I’m guessing he’s here to talk to you. He’s … you’ll see.” 

He gave a smile that felt more perfunctory than real, especially compared to the other two staff I’d interacted with. “Miss Chamber, I’m Professor Peterson Neal, Head of Student Affairs. I apologize that I couldn’t greet you when you arrived. You weren’t expected to come here today.” 

_Ah, Larissa’s replacement. I’m … unimpressed._

The twins had gone distinctly expressionless while I gave him a nervous smile, “Ah yeah … after Professor Dare rescued me from the vampires I guess she thought it was best to bring me here right away.” 

“Indeed. Well, I can escort you back to the Pathmaker while we get to know each other. As a Natural Heretic that’s chosen to join us you’re in a bit of a special category.” He gave the other girls a polite nod, “Thank you, Sandoval and Sarah, for showing her around the school.” He wasn’t quite dismissive of them but I got the feeling he had a job to do and wanted to get it done. 

I gave the girls a quick ‘see you around’ before following after him as he walked off, “So am I still going to be getting to come here before the school year starts?” 

He nodded, “Yes, it’s a bit unusual but almost by definition Natural Heretics are special cases. You are planning on going thought the Edge yes? Some Naturals elect not to which we do allow but certainly do not recommend.” I could tell he had a low opinion of such a choice. 

_Ah we have a solid party-line loyalist here._

I gave my best thoughtful look, “I’m not so taken with this idea that I’ll be sending out a ‘notice me’ signal anytime I run into a Stranger but on the other hand I need more options or I’m going to get killed the first time I run into anything that’s as fast and strong as I am and tough enough to survive my lightning. So I guess I get to become one of your kind of Heretic.” 

He gave me another smile, this one seemed a bit more real. “Good. A well-rounded set of powers will keep you alive, it’s a very dangerous world out there.” 

_Huh. I think he is concerned about your survival, just … not good at showing it. Still a poor replacement for Larissa._

“Yeah, I kinda got that idea.” There was nothing fake about my shudder. If I can avoid having a hostile vampire that close to me ever again I’ll be happier. 

“So I’m told you don’t know the source of your powers? That seems … unusual.” 

I shrugged, “Oh, it’s downright suspicious. Unless I managed to have a Stranger bleed on me without me noticing, something snuck into my room and deliberately gave me powers. Shenanigans are occurring and I fully intend on finding out what and why.” 

Judging by the odd look he gave me I was pretty sure I’d just thrown his script off by how direct I was being about it. Heh. 

After a moment he commented, “Ah yes, you have been taking after your father in becoming an investigative reporter. Sadly we don’t have a school newspaper here.” 

I shrugged, “Annoying, but I’ll have to try and keep my hand in,” I gave him a look. “It occurred to me that a freelance reporter can show up in all sorts of odd places to look into strange happenings.” 

He stopped as we got to the entrance to the Pathmaker, giving me a long look before nodding approvingly, “Yes, that would be a good cover. I think Miss Chambers you could have a bright future ahead of you. We’ve arranged to have your family’s car moved to just outside your town and will open a portal to there. Your family have been given memories that indicate you’ll have a scholarship to an exclusive boarding school, and will be doing some day visits. Feel free to talk about the existence of the school but avoid mentioning any of the supernatural aspects of course.” 

He gave me a more serious look for a moment, “This is mostly for their protection. Trying to force information past the Bystander Effect can damage people if you try too much, or make them think you’re insane. There have been some unfortunate cases in the past, so for everyone’s sake, be careful what you say.” 

He gestured towards the entrance to the Pathmaker, “This way if you please. Let's get you home.” 

_And now you get to explain ‘vampire attack’ to dad._

And here I’d been thinking I’d be less stressed once I got off the island. 


	4. Ambush 1.04

[Saturday, August 5, 2017] 

_It won’t be that bad. He already knows what happened … in general._

_Weirdly, that doesn’t help much._

I was standing at the front door of my house. Getting back hadn’t been too involved. Professor Neal had opened a portal to just outside my hometown of Laramie Falls and next to where dad’s car had helpfully been left for me. And by helpful, I also mean a bit creepy. 

Right, now I just needed to act like everything was totally normal and I just went to Casper because it was more interesting than the Falls. To be fair it was, both in general and in critters to pick fights with. And I was just finding ways to delay myself now. 

I took a breath, forced a smile, and opened the door. 

I didn’t even make it inside before the first ambush. 

“What time do you call this?” 

You’d have thought that was my father Lincoln, but no, it was my nine year old sister Tabitha with her amazing ‘parent voice’. I took a look up at the sky, “It’s still light outside, I don’t see the problem.” 

She just looked at me. She had a really good glare. I would need to resort to stronger measures. 

I held up my bribe, “So I might have just possibly picked up some really nice dark chocolate while I was in town, 70 percent cacao.” How she could eat that stuff and like it, I did not know. 

She raised an eyebrow. 

I held the bribe out, “Forgiven?” 

There was a long pause before both of us started giggling and she grabbed the bar. I … I needed that. 

So it was in a brighter mood that I entered the lounge. Dad just gave me a raised eyebrow, he’d been the one whom Tabitha had learned it from after all, “You remembered to fill it up?” 

“Yes dad, it’s good to see you too. Everything went fine.” 

He smiled, “Dinner is in the oven. So how does the new school look?” 

Ah yeah, false memories put into my family's heads. Another bit of creepy about this. “I really like it, cutting edge facilities, great programs … no school paper though, so I’m trying to work out if that’s a deal breaker or not.” 

Dad wrinkled his nose, “Yeah, that’s not a good sign. Might be safer for the staff though, I recall some of your special reports.” 

Really, you put out one special report showing the lunch-lady stealing tacos on Taco Tuesday with pictures … I realized I was smiling. 

_Good times, good times._

_Yeah. I’m going to miss the paper._

_The principal won’t._

Dad was just looking at me, “I know that smile, I have never realized being an investigative reporter was genetic.” 

Lincoln Chambers was a very good reporter, with the awards and trail of crimes and corruption exposed to prove it. Both my parents were hard acts to follow, not that I was going to let that stop me. 

Tabitha wandered in, nibbling on her chocolate bar and held her fingers against an unremarkable bit of the wall for a bit. She nodded. “We’re secure.” 

Dad relaxed a bit, “Okay, having two sets of memories is really weird.” He shook his head and walked over, “Are you okay? Vampires?” 

I gave him a confident smile. Or tried to, it lasted all of a few seconds before I threw myself into his arms, “I was so scared dad.” I buried my face in his shoulder and realized I was crying. 

A moment later I felt Tabbris wrap her arms around the two of us, I wasn’t even sure what I was saying at that point, some mess of sobs and how scared I was and how horrific it was to kill people. 

_Just let it out Felicity, let it out._

When I needed them the most, my family was there for me. 

* * *

“I’m really not happy about this. I knew things like this would happen but not … not this soon.” Dad was dealing with this about as well as could be expected. 

“Nobody expected it this soon, if it helps, Felicity handled herself as well as could be hoped for in combat. Even with three to one odds, she was never in real danger.” And that was Theia speaking through my mouth, which I’ll admit never stopped being a bit weird. Right now, it was a lot easier to let her do the talking, I was feeling drained after the crying. 

Finding something else to focus on for a moment, dad asked, “And did you have to pass on exactly what their threat was? I wouldn’t have minded but I’d rather Tabbris didn’t need to hear that.” 

Tabbris and Theia’s people had some really nifty communication spells, but they were also fairly complex to set up and neither dad or I were up to casting them ourselves yet. This meant that while there had been a communication channel to home all day, it was a link between Theia and Tabbris. So if I wanted to tell dad something, I had to tell Theia, who told Tabbris, and then Tabbris could pass it on in person. Which was why I’d pretty much ignored it all day, letting Theia pass on anything important, like ‘hey, some Heretics are going to show up and mess with your memories’. 

This did mean that _everything _passed on went through my nine year old sister. 

Tabbris was looking annoyed, “It’s a bit late to hide things like that from me dad.” 

Dad winced, “I’m just … sorry. I … I’m your dad, I want to protect you from things … all of you, and I can’t, and it’s driving me a bit crazy.” 

Tabbris sighed, “Sorry, it’s just … it’s just that shouldn’t happen to anyone.” More quietly she muttered, “I’m glad you killed them.” 

We have _issues_ about rape. I got suspended once for putting a boy in the hospital over a prison rape joke - and the whole family took my side. 

It wasn’t like I just hit him right away. He made the joke, I told him it wasn’t funny, he gave me shit about that and I was pissed off enough to tell him my adopted younger sister was conceived via prison rape. 

So he made a bunch of jokes about that. 

Looking back, Theia had more than a bit to do with what happened next. Don’t get me wrong, I was fully onboard with beating him till he couldn’t stand, but she knew how to make it _hurt_. 

If dad hadn’t gotten involved and been about as angry as I was, I might have gotten expelled. As it was, they compromised on two weeks out of school for my excessive reaction to extreme provocation. 

Every day off, Tabbris brought me breakfast in bed. 

Dad changed the topic. “Are you feeling any better?” 

I looked up at the ceiling as I took my body over again, “I … I don’t know. Theia said the Edge makes it a lot easier to do things like that … at the time, I thought that was horrible, now? I kind of wish I had it already.” 

Theia borrowed my voice again, “I wish you had somebody other than me to monitor if that changes you too much. I’m the worst person here for making decisions about acceptable force.” Theia had made a point of cultivating a different tone and accent from me, so even if it was my throat and mouth, you could tell the difference between which of us was talking if you were listening for it. We’d also practiced so people couldn’t tell the difference, if for some reason she needed to pretend to be me when I was too busy, or based on today, freaking out too much. 

Dad slowly nodded, this really wasn’t the best day for him. I almost felt like us sisters were taking turns to see who could be the most trauma inducing. “Remember Flick, at the end of the day, Joselyn wouldn’t want you risking yourself to save her. If, at any point, you need to pull out of this, we will find a way.” 

I did appreciate it, but this wasn’t the first time we’d had this conversation. “It isn’t just mom, it’s Tabbris and Theia’s mom, it’s all of us. We’re too much of a target, even only counting mom’s history. Staying out of this was never an option. Besides, there are upsides to this. Apparently, they have really good therapists, including one I can tell at least some of the truth to.” 

He blinked, “That’s still something I’m getting used to. I didn’t think they would headhunt you for being on the right side quite this quickly.” 

Theia smiled, “I have to say the plan has gone wildly better than I thought possible. We haven’t even started at Crossroads and we’re already part of Joselyn’s revolution.” 

I muttered, “If they were supposed to be helping her though, they could have done a better job.” 

Dad still twitched a bit when we shifted like this but he was getting better at dealing with it. To be fair, seeing one person shifting expression and tone of voice this quickly must be weird, especially when I got into arguments with myself. Tabbris was used to it, but she’d been used to me doing this for the years where dad and I just thought Theia was my opinionated imaginary friend. 

It had been a lot easier for all involved when Tabbris bonded me. Theia could tell me the truth and have me remember it, because we had some real differences. It was a relief to find out that I didn’t have some deep seated fondness for skirts and being domestic because that so wasn’t me. 

The few months after Tabbris bonded Dad, while I was still wandering around being an ignorant Bystander, had been pretty weird too. Probably weirder for him than me though. But now, we were all in the know and we got to have a four way planning meeting with three bodies. Theia and I had already agreed that if we got a line on a Nocen that could give duplication powers, it would be target number one. 

Finally, dad sighed a bit, “So the plan is still on then.” 

There was a long pause and then we all nodded. It wasn’t a great plan, to be honest it wasn’t even a good plan, but it was what we had. 

* * *

“I know you’re not happy about this.” 

Dad just gave me a look. He and I were alone in the lounge, Tabbris was up in her room and Theia was having a nap, so for once, it really was just the two of us. 

Eventually he sighed, “The worst part is that I can’t think of a better option. I wish I could join you but … “ Somebody needed to look after Tabbris. If he let them know he was a Natural like me, then they’d expect him to join as well. Larissa had managed to smuggle Tabbris through Crossroads once, but we weren't willing to take the bet we could do it again. 

The problem wasn’t even the Heretics. It was the people that really ran Crossroads, the angels.They didn’t take well at all to rogues running around, like both my sisters for example. Theia was safely inside me but, Tabbris had to make do with the Tabitha Diana Chambers identity and the disguise spell she used all the time, and that wouldn't be enough if she was around the school. She was only safe as long as they didn’t know she existed. 

Technically she could have hidden inside dad, but aside from the question of ‘what happened to your daughter’, that was no way for a kid to grow up. No, it had to be this way. 

I closed my eyes to try and force back the tears, and failed. “I’m sorry dad. This is worse than when we lost mom isn’t it.” 

There was a really long pause. We had a rule inside the family. No lies. We were surrounded with lies, and hiding ourselves in them, so our rule was that we told the truth to each other. Maybe not always the whole truth, but never any outright lies. Eventually he said, “Yes. Even when I thought she’d just left us without a second thought … that wasn’t as bad as watching you walk into that place and knowing I can’t do anything but be here for when you need me.” 

That just kind of hung there for a bit. I’d kind of known it, but having it said outright, yeah. “So just to check, I’m still not allowed to drink right?” 

“If I’m not going to let this drive me to drink, then you’re not allowed to either.” 

“Didn’t you take up drinking more after dealing with Theia? Wait, it’s Theia, enough said.” I loved my sister even before I thought she was a real person, but she was an infinite mess of issues. I felt bad about the vampires even with what they were planning to do. If I ever got the chance to kill Theia’s mother? All I’d feel was relief. 

As bad as that joke was, it managed a slight chuckle from him. “If there was just more I could do. It’s hard, it’s really hard.” 

I looked over at him, I wasn’t the only one who had been crying a bit, “How are the investigations going?” 

He snorted a little, “At least that’s keeping me busy, running an investigation to disguise another investigation.” Dad had been looking for mom for years, he’d mostly believed something weird was up and even while still a bystander had found enough that, when Theia had pushed me to look at his notes, I realized that the ‘mom just walked out on us’ story didn’t make sense. Which said something given how bitter I was over her betrayal at the time. 

Now, he knew about the real world, so when he went to investigate, he could look for the real threats out there. The trick was that we knew he was - the entire family was - being monitored. So he had to make it look like he was still trying to do his old doomed investigation while using that to hide the real one. It was honestly educational to watch, especially when I was going to do some of the same tricks at Crossroads. 

Of course, he had an advantage I didn’t, “Well, at least you can keep track of it all.” 

That got more of a smile, “Don’t get me wrong, being able to do the things you can do would be fun but I’m not unhappy with what I got.” When you bonded with an Alter, you got some of their powers, either a small bit of everything or a bigger share of some of their powers, the rest growing in over time. I got Tabbris’s ability to boost and her superhuman gracefulness. Dad got her perfect memory and a superhuman capability for magic. That made it a lot easier to keep all of his real notes in his head. 

I had to keep mine in Theia, which worked, but I bet his mental notebook wasn’t nearly as prone to snark and colorful commentary. 

“Still no sign of Tabbris’s sister?” 

“Not yet, her parents hid themselves well.” 

In this case, I wasn’t talking about Theia or me. Tabbris had two older direct siblings, twins. Unlike Tabbris, they had been the result of a loving marriage which had been torn apart when the people we were hiding Tabs and Theia from found her mother. We were pretty sure that Tabbris’s half-human half-sister was still on Earth, but we didn’t even have a name for her. Once again, I want to point out how much I _really_ hate memory spells when they mess with my family. 

Dad sat up, “We’re going to win thi,s Felicity. Joselyn didn’t know how to stop, and we don’t either.” 

I gave him my best raised eyebrow, “We’re up against several world-wide organizations of brainwashed superhumans backed by a multi-galactic empire.” I wasn’t challenging his statement, just making a comment. 

He shrugged, “Yeah, but we’re Chambers, and worse yet, there are four of us.” 

I nodded slowly, “When you put it that way, it really doesn't seem fair to them.” I smirked, “I’ve never liked fair fights.” 

Crossroads had no idea what was about to hit them. 

* * *

##### Theia

The garden was peaceful at night. A night-vision spell the only thing that stopped me from tripping over everything in the darkness. It was tempting to just sit down and enjoy it, but I had a reason to be here and a conversation I’d been avoiding for far too long. 

Even after only a few months of being able to really talk to her, it was weird to be alone in our body. Felicity was asleep and we had a deal where the other could use it for private time. It had taken less than twelve hours for her to push for that arrangement once she knew I was real, not even a full day. I wasn’t sure I would ever really understand that. I was literally an invading body-stealing alien and she was concerned about _my_ mental well-being. 

It said a lot about her that it took everything I had to argue her _down _to only one day a week where I got to call the shots on what we did, and I think I only managed that because it came with me getting to choose what we wore. The thought of fighting an empire of angels, infiltrating a school of non-human hating inquisitors, or taking on the scariest necromancer ever, didn’t bother her as much as having to wear a dress did. It was truly a pity, she really had the legs for a skirt. 

And her father, our dad, backed her in this insane plan to let a crazy person run around in his daughter’s body. I was pretty sure it wasn’t just because I loved to cook, and both of them didn’t get much past heat and eat. 

I had a family that loved me and cared about me, and sometimes that was very frightening. I’ve failed those I cared about so often in the past, I didn’t want to fail them too. 

I loved them so much it hurt. And I was starting to understand just how unconditional their love for me was too, which was why I was out here, because I thought somebody hadn’t realised it yet. 

Finding a stump to sit on, I didn’t have to wait long before somebody came to meet me. 

The squirrel which popped up to chitter at me wasn’t a surprise, she’d want something which dealt well with darkness and most birds didn’t. Besides, it was an adorable little thing and I didn’t miss the chance to pet it for a few moments. “We need to talk, and I don’t speak ‘chitter’.” 

I had to fight to keep my face straight because if I let on just how adorable it was to have a squirrel sulk at me she’d get upset, and worse yet, I might not get to see her do it again. 

The next bit was familiar, the translucent white figure that emerged from the squirrel and rapidly expanded and solidified into my littlest sister. Tabbris ignored me for a few moments to give the squirrel a quick scritch and a couple of nuts, the little thing scolding her briefly before taking its food and scampering off. I didn’t begrudge the wait. 

_Always do right by your host._ Words that we try to live by, a simple kindness that made us renegades to the rest of our species. 

The rule didn’t apply to enemies of course, were not stupid about it. I suppose you could say the Imperium followed the same rule, but for them, almost everyone else is an enemy. We looked for allies, they looked for slaves, and in the end that was all the difference that matterd. So even if it was just a squirrel or a bird, you always made sure you treated them well. 

I took a moment to sit on the intense burst of jealousy I always felt when I saw Tabbris step out of someone. She was a perfect little angel and her powers all worked fine. I was the broken one with the broken powers. With Felicity and me, it was ‘till death do us part’, be it mine or hers. I was hoping for mine but the sad fact was that I would likely be free of her quite literally over her dead body. 

When that happened I would do all I could to make sure whoever killed her **paid**. 

“Um, you okay Theia?” 

I let out a long breath, “Just thinking.” I gave my head a shake, “It’s going to be only you and dad soon.” 

Tabbris nodded, sitting on a log, “He’s learning magic well though, and we’ve got all the house defenses. We’ll be safe.” 

“That’s not what I’m worried about … well, not the main thing I’m worried about.” I took a deep breath, this wasn’t easy. Perfect memory meant I still remembered Tabbris as a baby, or a toddler, or an adorable little girl. I hated arguing with her, but this needed to happen. She needed to understand. 

She gave me a look. I’d gotten distracted again, I wasn’t good at talking to people, even family. 

“You need to show this to dad.” 

“The garden? He knows the night-vision spell already.” 

I shook my head, “I mean the squirrels and the birds and the cats. What you do out here for fun.” 

That got me a confused look, “But he knows I can do this.” 

“He knows you have the power, he doesn’t know you have fun with it. Maybe you can convince him to let you try and tame a fox. I know you’ve always wanted one.” A bit of bribery never hurt. 

Tabbris thought about that, then shook her head, “It’s weird. It’s not normal.” 

I let out a sigh, sometimes I hated to be right. “He’s our dad, he isn’t looking for us to be normal human girls. He doesn’t even expect Felicity to be normal and she’s mostly human. He deals with me not having my own body. Do you really think he’s going to love you less because you use your powers to enjoy yourself?” 

I slid off the stump to kneel in front of her, getting on her level. “You remember his phrase? ‘Love is a muscle’ … this will just be giving him more things about you to love.” 

Tabbris was looking doubtful. “He deserves to have a normal daughter, he’s got so much else going on.” 

Dammit Tabbris, why did you have to be so much like your wonderful mother in all her self-sacrificing glory. “He deserves to have an amazing daughter.” I reached out to boop her on the nose, “And you’re amazing. You need to let him see more of it. And he’s going to need the distraction with us away. You need to show him what you can really do … his little demi-goddess.” 

“Do you really think we can rescue her? Find them?” 

The change of topic threw me for a moment before I realized she was thinking about her mother too. “Mom? Yeah. I don’t know how long it will take but, yeah. If we have to break the entire Imperium to do it, we’ll get her back. You need Mom back and … I want her back too. I owe her so much.” And let’s be honest Theia, we don’t want to let Mother win. She’d destroyed enough lives already. 

“And we’ll find the rest of your family, no matter where in the multiverse they got scattered to, we’ll find them.” 

Neither of us looked at the lonely memorial stone in the corner of the garden that just read ‘Korsmea’, but we knew it was there. A reminder that it was too late for some of Tabbris’s siblings. 

Tabbris gave me a solemn nod, “Okay. When you to head off to Crossroads full time, I’ll show him. I’ll introduce him to Miss Chitters.” 

I nodded back, “You should show him the rest too.” 

“What, the other animals?” 

I could keep trying to explain or I could show her. I was never great with words, especially not compared to Felicity and Dad. 

So I punched her. 

It was a serious punch too, to anyone without superspeed, my fist would have blurred and I had enough strength behind it to put a decent hole in one of these trees. 

Her response was instinctive and instant, flickering out of the way while she parried the blow. Coming to a halt a moment later, eyes huge in the darkness, “Hey!” 

I sat down on the stump, hiding how happy I was that she’d parried that so smoothly and without having to fire any of her prepared haste spells if I judged correctly. “He knows you can do what Felicity and I can do, but he doesn’t understand it. You need to stop hiding bits, besides, he might get the boost at some point and you’ll need to show him how to use it.” 

“But -” 

“But nothing. He loves you, he even manages to love me and I’m … me. You need to let him see the real you … he deserves that, and he’s not going to reject you for it. You know you can trust him.” 

Tabbris flickered over to give me a painfully hard poke in the chest, “Don’t put yourself down.” Then she frowned at me, “Do you really think so … you think he doesn’t just want Tabitha?” 

I kept my tone firm even as I wanted to just hug her, “No, he wants to know his real daughter. He wants to get to know Tabbris, and you should let him. Including letting him see you properly more often. I get your urge to look like you’re related to Felicity and Dad, but looking like yourself is good sometimes too.” 

There were good reasons for that disguise. It stopped her from looking like her mother, looking like an angel, and from looking like the Tabitha Holt who had been at Crossroads years ago, but getting her to drop it was a fight these days. 

She gave me a scowl that was much more adorable than she realized. “That’s not what his daughter looks like.” 

Dammit. Again. Okay, time for the big guns. “It’s what Mom’s daughter looks like.” 

She winced and I had to hold back my own cringe. 

“He wants to get to know his daughter. All of her. Can you really tell me that he’s going to stop loving you because of what you look like? He’s our dad. He’s everything a dad should be.” So much more than my biological father certainly. That man only ever gave me two things, life and my superpowers. It was Lincoln that showed me what a real father was supposed to be, what a real parent was supposed to be. The less said about my monster of a biological mother the better. 

I finally relented and gave her the hug I’d been wanting to give her from the start and she tightly hugged back, “It will be okay, you’ll see. He loves Tabitha, but he loves Tabbris too, you just need to give him the chance to know her.” 

“I’ll try. He’s … he’s dad. He’ll still want me … he will, won’t he?” 

This I could say with total confidence. “He’ll always love you. You’re his daughter. We’re a family, and we’re never going to let anyone stop us from getting the rest of of our family back.” 

She gave me a determined nod back, “We’ll save them. We’ll save them all.” 

That was my sister. The best little angel in all the worlds. Look out universe, we’re coming for you. 


	5. Ambush 1.05

[Saturday, August 12, 2017] 

**Flick**

When I got to the training area somebody was already using it. That wasn’t too unusual. With less than a month before the start of the school year Crossroads was starting to really come alive, not that the place ever seemed to sleep. 

The other person already there though on the other hand... 

_Theia, is she an angel?_

_I don’t think any of us would be wandering around openly like that. You’d have to be me to be that crazy. I’ll admit though she looks and moves like one of us._

If I didn't already know what Theia really looked like I'd probably be more distracted because wow. The thing about angels is that they did a lot of messing with their genetics. It's where things like perfect memory and the super-speed came from, but another thing they did was make themselves amazingly beautiful. Theia was no exception, her mother was a noted beauty even among angels and Theia took after that vile woman in looks a lot more than she was happy with. 

Whoever they were they looked like an angel, in every sense of the word. Even sweating from being in the middle of an intensive self-training session she looked like the cover of a magazine, including all the photoshopping. She stood several inches taller than me, her hair was long and pitch black, her skin flawless. Plus there was the fact that, well, to put it bluntly, she was stacked. From the way she was moving it didn't seem to be giving her back-problems which was itself proof she must have some kind of powers going on, not to mention an amazing sports bra. 

_I bet if I hadn’t told you that you were bi already you’d be having some really confusing questions about yourself right now._

_Um yeah._

Tight training clothing _did not help._ She finally noticed me looking at her and gave me a raised eyebrow that managed to pack a truly amazing amount of scorn into it. If Tabbris was here she’d be taking notes. My little sister did _not _suffer fools gladly. 

Thankfully my mouth managed to find an acceptable excuse before my very distracted brain could come up with one, “What style is that? It looks brutal, do they teach it here?” Thanks mouth, owe you one. 

_On the good side that’s not an angelic style I’m familiar with. But that doesn’t mean much._

She managed to raise the eyebrow a little bit more, adding just the right note of ‘really’ into her expression. Eventually she bothered talking and damn if her voice wasn’t as good as the rest of her, “It’s a custom style, it doesn’t really have a name.” 

“Huh, I only know Krav Maga, and I’m guessing bystander styles don’t count for much around here.” 

That got me a more careful look, “Parents didn’t train you in anything else?” 

I stepped into the training area and started warming up, “This is only my second visit here, I was a Bystander until recently. I became a Natural Heretic in some really weird circumstances and had no idea what was going on. Ended up going out and beating up weird creatures for a bit, Professor Dare caught up to me when I got into a very unplanned fight with vampires.” 

_That_ got her attention. “You were fighting vampires?” 

_That wasn’t fighting vampires, that was an execution._ Theia’s ‘tone’ was distinctly approving. 

_You’re not helping._

“I didn’t mean to. I was looking for more weird animals that liked going after people, then I ran into muggers with fangs that “ I had to pause, “Well, I wasn't going to give them what they wanted and I didn’t think they would accept no for an answer. They were as fast as me so I couldn’t run so … “ 

Her voice was quieter, “The professor saved you?” 

“Kinda … I killed two of them, she got the third as he was running. Then once I finished freaking out told me about Strangers and this place and … everything.” I started my warm-up again, going slower and more carefully. 

She studied me for a bit, “What are you a Natural of?” 

“We’re not sure, current guess is something called a Stardrinker. I can do things with electricity and can make myself really fast and strong for short periods … but that’s just a guess.” I looked over at her, “So you’re what, second or third year?” She blinked at me, “Fourth? You move like you know what you’re doing and...“ I tried to work out how to say it, “Nobody can look that good while training without something special going on.” 

_She’s got my attention, and no offense but most humans don’t look that good._

I could see her closing up a bit, “It’s complex. I’m first year, but already active.” 

I shrugged, I had enough secrets to pry into already, “Cool, you can tell me what I’m doing wrong then. I really don’t want to get eaten by a monster, that would really suck.” I paused thinking, “Oh, I’m Felicity Chambers, or Flick works.” 

_Ooo, there is a story here._

Okay, so _I_ didn’t want to pry into it … at least not right away. 

The suck line managed to draw something that could almost be a smirk to her face, “Avalon Sinclair.” She studied me, “Your form is okay, but if you really have super speed or strength you need a style that can use it. Bystander styles are built for human limits.” she pondered for a moment, “What else have you fought?” 

Another voice joined the conversation, “I’d like to know that too.” 

I looked over my shoulder to see a large solid looking man standing at the edge of the training area. Avalon straightened up, “Professor.” 

He waved a hand, his tone calm, “Relax, we’re not on school time yet. Felicity was it? I’m Ulysses Katarin, I’m the main combat teacher. Why don’t you tell me what you remember and we’ll see if we can’t work out what you beat up.” 

_Should I call him sir?_

_While this place is more military academy than anything else, they tend to operate like a University. Professor works fine._

I gave up on the idea of trying to warm up for the moment. “This is just the things I fought? I did see other … odd entities around, but if they didn’t seem to be going after people I didn’t go after them … nobody had told me about Strangers at that point.” 

Avalon frowned at that while Professor Katarin just shrugged, “There is no such thing as a safe Stranger to be around humans, but for the time being let's talk about what you fought.” 

_Ah, hardliners. I hate it when I see the Empire’s plans working so well._

“Right, so first thing I ran into was some wolves … I mean they looked like normal wolves but they were fast. Almost as fast as I can get or the vampires could move. I found them attacking a delivery driver. He thought they were wild dogs of course.” 

“Fast wolves? Not specific enough to know what they were then, I’d need to see them. Professor Pericles might have more luck. He teaches Stranger Knowledge. How did you fight them?” 

I noticed Avalon was listening in, “Ah … yelled at them to distract them from the driver who got back in his truck thankfully. They decided to have a go at me, that was my first real fight so … it could have gone better.” 

_You did okay for your first time Felicity._

_I’m just glad you were ready to step in if things had gone more wrong._

“I’d like to say I used my training, dodged them and hit them, but to be honest I managed to kill the first one when it tried to bite me.” I let some sparks crackle around my hand, “I blasted it on reflex before it had time to do more than bruise me, at that point the rest obviously decided they didn’t want any of that and left.” I shrugged, “Not exactly a glorious start.” 

Avalon suddenly spoke up, “I’ve seen worse first fights. You’re alive. It’s dead. You won.” 

The professor gave her a glance, but then nodded, “For your first time it sounded like you did okay. Saved the Bystander, didn’t get badly injured. You did okay kid, but we can teach you to be better. More importantly you’re aware you got lucky. Overconfidence kills.” 

_Yes, it does doesn't it. You best tell them._

I winced, “I kinda found that out. Next time I was out I ran into some kind of lizard that breathed fire … and was tough, or at least insulated enough for me to not be able to kill it just by tagging it. That was … a discovery.” 

Professor Katarin pondered that, “Could be a Fire Skwaror … “ both of us gave him a look, “I didn't name it. They’re fairly tough, did you have to run?” 

“I did think about it, there wasn’t anyone directly at risk but, I had no idea where it was going to go.” 

Avalon spoke up, “How did you kill it?” 

I pulled my survival knife out of the sheath I kept at the back of my waist, “This is my second knife. The first one I trashed by first managing to stab the, ah, Skwaror in the head … that didn’t stop it, but when I dumped enough current into the blade I managed to fry it.” I blinked at them looking at me, “I might have panicked a bit.” 

_You did not panic. I would have taken over if you panicked, that was a very controlled lashing out you did. I was rather impressed._

_It wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t force the current down the blade and into it._

_The principle was sound, I just made sure you hit. And you know how to do that yourself now._

He gave me a considering look, “Sounds like it was a learning experience.” Then held his hand out, “May I?” 

I handed the knife over, “Yeah, I learned that you don’t just assume the same trick will work on everything. Also I learned I really need to get better weapons.” 

He snorted, studying the knife before handing it back, “I would say you probably want to get something better than that, but we’ll deal with that. One of the things you’ll go through early on is weapon selection. We have a wide range of different weapons and we’ll find the one that matches you. Once you bond with the weapon it will be yours for life, getting more powerful as you do. Blades, guns, bows, you’ll find almost anything and you’ll know when you find the one that fits you.” 

_I am looking forward to that. I want something stabby and maybe shooty as well._

I blinked at him a bit, “So like Wand Selection, but with teeth?” 

Avalon let out a snort while the professor smirked, “It’s almost annoying the effort we have to put into keeping up with things like that just so we get those references.” 

_Stabbicus Maximus! Oh, and the next thing you fought where the lightning throwing chimera critters._

_Thanks._ Even if I didn’t have perfect Angel memory yet Theia was willing to fill in … most of the time. She refused to help me with tests which I still thought was totally unfair. 

“Ah, after that was… well it wasn’t a classic chimera, but like a big cat but with scales and bat-wings. I don’t think it they could fly but it used them for impressive jumps and it could form a ball of lightning above their wings and throw that at me. Sneaky thing too.” 

Professor Katarin pondered that for a moment but it was Avalon that spoke up first, “That sounds like a Lightning Chimera sir?” 

He nodded, “Lesser version … I’m assuming you would have included ‘car sized’ if they weren’t a lesser one. Dangerous for a novice, more so in packs.” 

I nodded, “This was about large dog sized, but there was only one of them. Managed to jump me by surprise, but … I can feel electricity so I picked up it firing.” I managed a bright smile, “So it turns out I can redirect lightning bolts, guess how I found out.” I paused for a moment, “Pity about the car I redirected it into, those things pack a punch.” 

He blinked a me, “Well I guess it was educational for you. You didn’t dodge?” 

“I only knew it was there when it was already launching the bolt, I did the redirect on pure reflex. I hit the car because that’s the way my arm was pointing when I got hit.” And a lot of help from the voice in my head. 

_One of these days we need to practice that with a real lightning bolt. _

_Have you ever done that with a real bolt?_

_No but the theory is sound. Father once deflected a capital ship electron lance, and those make natural lightning bolts look like a static shock._

I continued, “It kept sneaking around, had another go at me. I dodged that one, then I managed to ‘feel’ it powering up just before it fired. Seems they have to hold still to shoot, so I hit it first. It’s lucky that I could let its charge attract my bolt because there’s no other way I would have hit it. I don’t know if that overloaded it or something but there was a big zap and it fell over.” 

Professor Katarin gave me a raised eyebrow, “Big zap and it fell over.” 

I could feel myself blushing, dammit. “Sorry, I haven’t had formal training in monster hunting terms yet. It stopped moving, so I blasted it a couple more times, and since it was smelling unnervingly like burnt chicken at that point I figured it would be safe to check the body to make sure.” 

Avalon’s smirk became more pronounced, “When you’re made into a proper Heretic you’ll get a kill aura, when you start glowing you’ll know you killed it.” 

_Hah, she doesn’t mention the other side effects of killing something._

The professor gave her a glance but nodded, “There are very rare exceptions, but that’s a good rule.” He thought for a moment, “What did you do with the bodies?” 

I blinked a bit, “Oh. Heavy duty rubbish bags and I stashed them in my car. Got rid of them on the drive home … I live in a mountain range, there are all sorts of places where you drop something to make it vanish.” That hasn’t been my idea but Theia was the kind of person who thinks about ‘so if I have to hide a dead body, where would I put it?’ … which to be fair is kinda disturbing. 

He nodded, “Was there anything else you fought?” 

I winced, “Just the vampires … I would rather not talk about them if I don’t have to.” 

Apparently I was looking like I felt about that memory because he just nodded, “I’ve read Professor Dare’s report, you did well there. Very efficient.” 

I couldn’t control a shiver, “It shouldn’t be that easy to kill people … or things that people-shaped.” 

Avalon’s expression got hard, “They aren’t people, the’re monsters. Never make the mistake of thinking they’re people.” Before I could say anything else she grabbed a bag she had nearby and stalked off towards the buildings. 

I looked over at the professor who gave a small shrug, “Not my story to tell. Don’t take it personally though.” 

“Huh. I’ve had worse first meetings. So … “ 

He snorted, “Finish warming up, then I’ll find out just what it is you know. From the sound of it though you should fit in fairly well to the other first years, you’ve got a bit of a head-start but not enough to really complicate things.” 

_If I wasn’t holding back I’d show him head-start._

_We’re trying to be low-profile._

He looked me over, “So, Krav Maga?” I nodded. He nodded back and did a pretty good Morpheus, “Show me.” 

_Didn’t I tell you this place was great?_

* * *

“So I’m just going to die here if that’s okay with you two?” 

_You are not allowed to die, then I’ll have to walk around under my own power and I’m far too lazy for that._

_Love you too._

“So you met Professor Katarin then?” Sands sounded amused. 

I opened my eyes from where I was lying on my back next to picnic blanket the Mason twins had set up, “I’m going to assume he’s always like that?” 

Sarah snorted a bit while Sands smirked, “Pretty much … we haven’t had to deal with him too much until this year but I’ve heard stories.” 

“He wanted to know what I knew … how well I could fight normally, how well I could fight while going fast. Apparently I’m ‘pretty quick’ even by trained Heretic standards, and then he wanted to see the lightning in action. I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired before.” 

_Well, this just proves we need to train more if you think that was pushing it._

_I submit that the ‘training’ you went though wasn’t normal even by your people’s standards._

_I’ve read about military basic training which is harder than what you just had. We need to step it up, I wonder if Avalon the probably-not-an-angel will want to train with us, she seems to take it seriously. _I hoped not, I didn’t need two people that enthusiastic about training in my life. 

“Sweat, not blood.” was Sarah’s comment. 

“Oh yeah, I get that, I don’t want to get eaten by monsters either but … gah. Well apparently we’re all about ‘that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ here.” 

Sands snickered, “Welcome to Crossroads. Ah, she made it … “ 

I sat up to see who Sands was waving to. It was some girl I didn’t know, around our age, blond and with what I can only describe as a ‘surfer’ look. Huh. I wonder if the surfing around here was any good, I’d never been surfing, or near oceans really so I was curious about it. 

The new girl walked over to us, Sands standing up to do introductions, “Flick, this is Roxa Pittman, another of the Bystander-Kin starting in our year. Roxa that’s Felicity Chambers, don’t expect her to get up. She just spent an hour having the combat professor find out what she could do. She’s a Bystander-Kin too.” 

I held up a couple of fingers, “Two hours thank you very much. Hi, call me Flick if you want, or Felicity, either works … “ I decided that was enough being energetic and flopped back on the grass, “So I’m not the only one brought in early.” 

Sands and Roxa sat down while Sarah was unpacking food from the basket. Roxa seemed amused by my state, though not as much as the voice in my head, commenting, “They’re letting me stay here already, my home situation is a bit … non-existent right now so...” She shrugged, not seeming bothered by the admission. 

“I’m doing weekend visits, not sure if that’s normal or not.” 

Sands waggled a hand, “Kinda … any of the Bystander-Kin will come here at least once to have a look around the place, so you might get to meet some others before the start of the year. You’re a bit of a special case.” 

Roxa gave me a puzzled look at that, I held a hand up and then let some electricity crackle over it. It was the first thing Theia had ever taught me for using her special powers. Her version was a lot fancier of course, looking more like a floating plasma globe without the glass, really pretty. I gave Roxa a smile, “I don’t know if they told you about Natural Heretics yet but long-story-short, I already have some tricks.” 

She blinked at that for a bit, then grinned, “Cool.” 

Sands nodded a bit at that reaction, “Yep, you’ll fit in here just fine.” 

I thought of something, “Wait … so you grew up around the place and have Heretic parents, so I’m guessing that makes you resistant to the Bystander Effect, and I’m a Natural Heretic.” I looked over at Roxa, “How are _you_ remembering what’s happening here?” 

Roxa smirked, "Professor Pericles gave me some medicine when he met me, apparently it will wear off in a bit and I'll forget all of this again if I don't join fully, but until then." 

_It’s useful stuff. Alternatively somebody good with mental magic and enough power or skill can just switch the effect off on somebody. Mom could do it if she wanted._

I thought for a moment, “Okay, so if they can do that … why all the fake memories for dad? Why not just give him this stuff and ask him if he’s okay with me going to Crossroads?” 

_Because any sane parent would say no?_

_I want to know their answer._

There was a bit of a pause before Sands said, “I’ve … never really thought about it. I expect it’s a historical thing, somebody our age being treated like an adult is fairly normal for history and the people that run things are … old.” 

Roxa spoke up, “Why seventeen? That another tradition thing?” 

Sands answered, “That’s to do with magic. If you’re too young and try to cast magic you … well, it can kill you. By the time you’re our age you’ve got enough control over your energy for it to be safe. Age varies between people but this is the point they can be sure they won’t have somebody accidentally kill themselves. Growing up in a Heretic household you get taught that one early, it’s our version of ‘don’t put a fork in the power socket’. They also teach us not to put forks in power sockets too.” 

What they didn’t mention is that that was a human specific problem. Tabbris had been throwing spells around since she was four under Theia’s careful instruction. 

I put a hand up, “I’ve done that recently, but for me it’s a quick way to recharge. Hard on the fork though.” I blinked at the look everyone was giving me, “Powers are awesome?” 

Roxa laughed, “I think I’m going to like it here.” 

* * *

"So what do you girls think you're doing?" 

I looked up to see what I assumed was a teacher standing over us. He was tall and broad shouldered, with long, shaggy hair that was such a dark blond it was almost brown. He wasn’t as big as Professor Katarin, but my first guess on what he taught would be combat. 

Sands looked up at the man and said in a dry tone, "Anything we feel like old man, you got a problem with it?" 

He squinted down at her, "You've got a big mouth little girl. Does your dad let you get away with talking to people like that? Look at the example you're setting for the new people." 

“Pffft,” Sands made a dismissive noise and waved her hand. “He’s old. Who cares what he thinks?” 

I could see Roxa was on edge and I could feel Theia updating combat options … she was aware of ‘flight or fight’ but didn’t see how the ‘flight’ option applied to her. I made a guess based on the casualness and Sarah looking amused, “Professor Mason I presume?” 

He broke off from his argument to give all of us a broad smile, “Yes, and you would be Felicity and Roxa?” 

It had been long enough that getting to my feet was only sore rather than downright terrible. Once I stood up I held my hand out to shake his, “Hi. Felicity Chambers.” 

The professor had a nice smile, “Liam Mason, I teach English Lit. My girls have told me about you.” 

“Only good things I hope.” 

“Well, apparently your aim isn’t very good.” His tone took any sting out of it. 

I looked over at the two traitors, who were looking completely unrepentant, “Well, as soon as I work out how to reliably do a light shock they can help me with target practice.” 

He shrugged, “It will teach them to dodge, fine with me.” Ignoring a ‘DAD!’ in the background. He then shook Roxa’s hand for another bit of introduction before turning back to me, “I can escort you to the Pathmaker, Professor Dare was going to escort you but something came up.” 

A short bit of waves and ‘see you next weeks’, one quick trip and I was again in the Pathmaker waiting for it to connect me back to where I’d left the car. 

_You’re being very quiet. And shouldn’t you already know who he is?_

_Don’t trust him._

_Hardliner?_

_Worse. Remember how your mother’s operation had to suddenly go high profile?_

When mom had first started out with ‘hey, let’s not just murder every Alter for not being human’ thing she had first been doing more of an Underground Railroad. Smuggling Alters away from where the Heretics were active to where they could be safe. Then somebody had betrayed her to the hardliners and Underground Railroad had turned into Civil War. Wait. 

_You’re telling me that it was him?_

_Yes. He’s the person who revealed Joselyn’s operations. He’s the traitor._

_But he seems so nice?_

There was a long pause, and the next bit felt like pulling teeth, _He is. He’s even a good father and from everything I saw husband … but you can’t trust him. Under all of that he’s as hardliner as they come, and I’m quite sure he’s not affected by the spell. He knows who you are and who Joselyn was. He’ll be one of the people they are using to watch you._

My mental tone was careful. _You know that means we can’t fully trust the twins then._

Hers was bitter. _I know. Gate is open, we should go._

I’d been distracted enough to miss it. As I walked out I had a lot to think about, and once again found myself wishing Theia could physically stand in front of me. Because right now she really needed a hug. 

_We’ll find a way to solve this. You’ll have your friends back._

_Don’t make promises you can’t keep Felicity._

_I won’t. And I promise you, you will have your friends back._ Because this was one promise I was damn well going to find a way to keep, no matter what. 


	6. Ambush 1.06

[Saturday, September 2, 2017] 

“Better Chambers, though you still need to get better at watching your environment.” 

For all it was grudging, Avalon’s borderline complement was appreciated. Professor Katarin had ‘suggested’ that we train together. I was pretty sure that it was mainly because with lowish levels of boost I could kinda keep up with her much better skill levels. I could tell Theia was frustrated we were having to keep to what I knew. She really wanted to see if she could win a bout vs Avalon without boosting. 

I was curious how long Avalon had been doing this but I’d very quickly learned that you did not ask anything about her, and especially her history. I could live with that for the time being … I wouldn’t be my father’s daughter if I didn't want to find out but it wasn’t like I didn’t have secrets to keep myself. 

She gave me a considering look, then nodded, “Break time. Get some water.” 

I let myself relax a bit, “Careful, you almost sounded friendly with that last bit.” 

That got a snort. I was making progress, give me another year and Avalon might express some emotion that wasn’t ‘way too determined’. 

She gave me another look, “Keep this up and you might manage to not embarrass yourself too badly in your first official hunt.” 

I smirked, “God forbid I make the school look bad.” That was probably one of the other reasons that the professor had us training against each other. Both of us had been in real combat vs Strangers. I had no idea what kind of combat that had been for Avalon, see ‘don’t ask about Avalon’s past’, but given how vampires were a hot-button with her, I could make some guesses. 

Once I’d gotten some water into me I asked, “Have you seen Sands or Scout around?” Damn, I’d almost called her Sarah. It was a hard habit to break, especially when Theia still called her Sarah. Speaking of that. 

_You’re being very quiet._

_ I have a bad feeling._

I did too. Especially as Avalon paused for a bit. “They became Heretics on Tuesday. I haven’t seen much of them since then … when you go through the process you get a vision. Sometimes they can be … intense. I don’t know anything more than that.” 

I gave the nearby buildings a thoughtful look, I wasn’t entirely sure where they lived. They had always found me when I was visiting. 

_Focus on the problems we can solve._

I gave a mental acknowledgement, resisting the urge to physically nod with long practice and put my bottle to one side, “Right. So, any chance you can show me that throw you used?” 

She nodded, and I have a feeling she understood exactly what I was doing, not saying a word as she got ready to fling me around the training area again. 

* * *

The library had quickly become one of my standard places to hang out. Not only did I have an urgent need to learn as much as I could, but it was a good cover for me to know things that I’d gotten from the sarcastic encyclopedia that lived in my head. 

It didn’t hurt that she had fond memories of this place from before. 

_There is something maddeningly familiar about that girl._

I didn’t have to ask who. The school year for everyone that wasn’t a first year had formally started a week ago, so even on the weekend the place was bustling but the library was still fairly quiet. However since we only had one set of eyes between us I was looking directly at the girl in question, a kinda cute blond girl focused on the Stranger Knowledge section of the library. She looked about our age, but that didn’t rule out second year. 

Eh, new school, new people, may as well get to know people. I didn’t make friends easily, I’d had abandonment issues after mom and then lost my best friend because her family moved away when I was eleven. After that, well after that I developed an imaginary friend that would never leave me and stopped trying to get too close to real people that weren’t family. This was a new start and a new Flick. I had superpowers now and was training to be an awesome monster hunter, I could handle talking to people. 

“Hi, I’m Flick. What year are you in?” Okay, good start Flick, going better than meeting Avalon by perving at her or Virginia and the nervous breakdown. 

She gave me a startled look but recovered quickly, “Oh, um, first year. I mean I will be, I haven’t started yet.” 

Huh. “Oh cool, same here. Felicity Chambers, Bystander-Kin.” There was another name I’d been told for us from Sands, who disapproved of it. Silverstone, which was a reference to the main actress in the movie Clueless. To be honest I’d been called worse things, when your best friend is black in an almost entirely white town … well, things are said and it can get kinda ugly at times. The boy that made jokes about Tabbris wasn’t the only kid I’d resorted to violence on for things they said. 

Given my targeting, I think dad had agreed to let me take Krav Maga classes because he wanted me to win any resulting fights. He didn’t approve in a general sense, but he had to admit I’d never gotten into a fight that wasn’t either self-defense, or against somebody that badly needed it. I don’t think of myself as a violent person, though given I’m going to a school that’s going to teach me to become a full time professional murderer, I really should admit that ship has sailed. 

She gave me a slightly shy smile, “Vanessa Moon. Are you staying here or just visiting before the year starts?” 

“Visiting. I got picked up while fighting vampires, so I think they are hoping this will distract me and keep me out of trouble. Which is crazy talk of course, getting into trouble is how I distract myself.” 

That got me a look, “Fighting vampires?” 

“I’m a natural heretic, ah that means … “ 

“That your genetics got combined with a Stranger and gave you their powers.” She blinked a bit at my reaction, “I’ve been here for a bit, I’ve been reading the books.” 

I slowly nodded, “Yeah, about half a year ago. So I was … well, I was expecting weird animals like I’d run into before, not actual vampires. Got picked up by Professor Dare and invited to join. So, what’s your story, if I can ask.” 

She shrugged a little, “I’m living here currently, they thought it was better than the foster home I was in.” 

_If I was the suspicious type I would find it interesting how many of the Bystander Kin come from … backgrounds that won’t ask too many questions, though from what I recall that’s a minority even of the Bystander Kin._

If nothing else, being around Avalon and the twins was good practice for knowing when not to push somebody on a topic, “Well there are worse places to be than here. You met Sands and Scout Mason yet? They’ve been playing tour-guide for me.” 

She nodded, “Same here. They have made themselves the unofficial Bystander-kin guides … have you seen their booklet?” 

I nodded, “I think it’s getting bigger with every revision. I assume you’re another beta reader for it.” 

She smiled, “Apparently I’m good at proofreading. Huh?” She looked up and I followed her glance to see Roxa heading over to us. 

_I don’t like her expression._

I’d met Roxa several times and she was generally cheerful. Today she was not happy. She didn’t waste time when she got up to us, “Sands wanted to talk to you … give you a heads up on … it’s better if she tells you.” 

_If something else has happened to Sarah, I may be forced to change the plan. I’ve always wondered if I can set this place on so much fire that even they can’t repair it._

I didn’t bother trying to talk her down. I liked the twins, both from Theia’s memories and the weeks I’d known them. The world was a confusing place filled with conspiracies and mysteries and wonder, and sometimes it’s very hard to know what you should do. So I had established some simple policies to work off. 

One of the basic ones was: You mess with my family and friends, you’re messing with me. 

And I’ll find a way to make you regret it. 

* * *

Sands was looking distinctly not her normal self, and worse yet there was no sign of Sarah. I love my sister, but I hate it when she’s right because it’s normally very bad news. 

Before we could say anything Sands gave a weak smile in greeting, “So, you might want to sit down. Scout is okay but … she had a really bad shock and … “ She shook her head. “Okay, starting at the beginning.” 

We sat down with some exchanges of worried looks before Sands continued, “I think I’ve told all of you our mom was killed by a Stranger. Scout was there when it happened, she was still Sarah back then. Mom and Sarah took a boat trip out to see a whale pod, I … I was tired that morning.” She paused with a painful look of guilt, then pushed on, “The boat never came back, Dad and Aunt Virginia went out to look and found Sarah on an empty boat. There was damage, signs of a fight, but no trace of mom or anything else.” 

_Larissa was one of the first people to ever be kind to me. Felicity? Am I cursed?_

_No. You’re my sister, your amazing, and we’re going to protect our friends. That’s why we're here, so we can get better at protecting what's ours._

Sands gathered herself again, “They couldn’t find anyone on the boat to start with, but while searching around and calling out for them dad heard crying and found Sarah hidden under the cot. He tried to get her out but she was screaming and just screamed more when he tried to talk her down … she got worse every time he called her Sarah, so he called her his little scout instead. It was an old nickname, she … we got into a lot of things when we were younger, and she used to be the one leading.” 

_I remember that. I had to try and slow them down sometimes. Me as the voice of reason. Something is wrong with that._

Mental ‘voice’ or not, I could hear Theia not crying, but getting as close as she normally got. Sands was wiping away some tears too, “There had been a Stranger on the boat, it took mom, tried to take Sarah … she hid and it was calling out for her, using her name. Then she heard mom calling out for her while it hurt her, tortured her. I don’t know if was really her or a trick but … after that she couldn’t stand hearing her own name. So that’s why she’s Scout now, just Scout.” 

I was crying too, crying on behalf of Theia because she couldn’t. Her upbringing had damaged her. She didn’t cry when she was sad. Sometimes she’d cry if she was happy, but never when she was sad. It was one of her mother’s many crimes. 

Sands wasn’t looking at us, I don’t think she was looking at anything outside her head right now. She shook herself, “I don’t talk about this but … we went though the Edge on Tuesday, you get a vision when you go through it. Scout … she saw the boat again. So she’s … she’s trying to deal with that. It’s not been easy on either of us. I thought you deserved to know why Scout wasn’t around.” 

She gave us a more direct look, “And please don’t bring this up when she’s around. Just … don’t.” She nodded a little at our general agreement before sighing and sagging against her seat, “I guess that’s something we all have in common. We all lost our mothers, one way or another.” 

I blinked at the other two, I knew Roxa had been living rough when she was picked up and Vanessa was in a foster home but no details beyond that. 

Roxa was the first to speak up, “Mom died when I was really young, I never really knew her.” She seemed remarkably unbothered by it, “Don’t ask about my father, very much not in the picture.” 

Vanessa blinked, then very quietly said, “I was seven … there was a home invasion, they somehow took everyone but me, I … I have to believe they are still alive but...” Vanessa seemed anything but unbothered, but she was dealing with it. 

I guessed it was my turn, “I was seven, mum was the local sheriff, youngest they had ever had.” I didn't try to disguise the pride in my voice at that last bit. I just wished I could tell people how amazing mom really was. “Then she pulled somebody over and vanished with him … last I ever saw of her was her packing her bags and telling me she’d be back soon and … I hated her for a long time.” It hurt to admit that, but it was oddly freeing to say it as well. 

_You were so young and your world got shattered. It’s okay that you were angry._

“It never made sense though, dad’s an investigative reporter, one of the best. There were oddities … her weapon had been fired enough to empty the clip, and her car and gun and everything was just left behind.” I looked at the other girls, “Maybe it’s just me wanting to believe in mom but … I think something happened, and I’m thinking it was this place’s kind of something. I’m going to find out what happened.” I managed a smile. “I’ve got a lot of my dad in me, and he never could leave a story to rest.” 

Roxa blinked, “I’m not sure if I should envy you or not … at least I know for sure. But you get the chance she’s out there … “ She put a hand out, “I hereby call the first meeting of the Sisterhood of the Lost Mothers. May we find our certainty, one way or another.” 

_I need to learn her secret to not letting her past mess her up._

_I think I do as well._

I put my hand out on hers, “Never forget them.” 

Vanessa was next, “Never stop looking.” 

Sands just looked at us, then wiped her eyes and put her hand on top, “Never stop hoping.” 

There was a long moment before Sands asked, “Scout’s allowed in this right?” 

We pulled our hands back, “Yeah. I think she’s earned it more than most. If you want to tell her about my story you can.” I gave the other two a questioning look, getting a casual nod from Roxa and a more subdued but still firm nod from Vanessa. 

There was a long moment of quiet before Sands managed to force a small smile, “Oh, and you three just volunteered for me and Scout’s bystander and general first year support squad. We’re not the only people who have had a bad time, and … mom would have wanted us to help anyone we could.” 

_Larissa would be so proud of them._

_I’m going to make sure you get to tell them that yourself at some point._

_Don’t … thank you Felicity._

* * *

“Hmmm, something from the Feris family certainly, but I must agree with my colleague, not enough to go on. You killed it a bit too fast to find out what it was, but I can’t criticise you for dealing with a threat quickly.” 

Professor Zedekiah Pericles looked old enough that he should be dead. He’d apparently missed the memo though, and his boisterous voice and energetic moment was a reminder you really can’t judge a Heretic by how old they _look_. He apparently ran the Development Track which was all about creating amazing magical tools and weapons. Mainly weapons. 

Theia was mildly scornful of the apparent selection here, apparently the Imperium she was hiding from had all the best toys. Though she was pretty sure there was more than a bit of the Empire copying all the good ideas off the Heretics. 

I managed a smile, “I mainly panicked … in my case panic meant shock to the face.” 

It was weird to be talking like this after the intense, and oddly cathartic conversation of an hour ago, but I needed a change in speed. Going over the things I fought in more detail with the Professor who, among other things, also taught Stranger Truths 101, aka Intro to Monsters, was … well, it was a change of pace at least. 

“Well, you’ll want to keep a bit of a watch on that, shocking a fellow student because they startled you is something to avoid. Blasting Strangers that get into hand-to-hand with you is certainly a useful ability to cultivate.” 

_And we will be cultivating that young padawan._

_Throwing lightning around? We’re a lot more Sith than Jedi I’m thinking. I’m drawing a line though, no red-bladed lightsabers._

_The Imperium calls them luxensis … and you can change the colour of the blade._

_Wait, you have lightsabers! No we are not raiding the Imperium for weapons no matter how cool one would be, besides, any of the locations you know about are far too well guarded._

_Fine. Anyway, you’re much more of a yellow blade type._

Theia’s fondness for science fiction, given that she was literally being an alien from outer space, always bemused me. She said she just liked stuff where the good guys won. 

“Professor … how do I get used to fighting … people shaped Strangers?” 

“Ah, the vampires?” His tone was sympathetic, “It’s not always easy, and in some ways it probably shouldn’t be. When you’ve been though the Edge you’ll have a sense that tells you when you’re facing a Stranger, which will help. Not all Strangers show up to that, the standard term is Undoc, but in those cases you must be careful because you also won’t get the reaction from a Heretic, including Naturals like yourself.” He sighed, “Some people can be a bit too … trigger happy.” 

“Do people like me normally get picked up when you find us?” 

He nodded, as enthusiastic about that as everything else. “Of course, it’s dangerous to be out there without any support. We have specialist teams that normally deal with it. You were a special case because you we’re already on our books as a normal student, which is why there was a Professor checking in on you. If you’d had your misadventure a week earlier I would have been the one rescuing you.” 

_He’s nice, did you know him from before?_

_Only in passing. He always gave me room which was appreciated. The twins liked him. I’m pretty sure he was associated with your mother. I’ve looked up what I can of the records of her new life, his name is listed as attending doctor at her birth._

_So he’s rebellion?_

_Very likely, though if Gaia wanted us to know she’d probably have said._

I decided to answer some curiosity, “Professor Dare wasn’t there to try and pick me up. Were you planning on talking to me before the school year?” 

“Oh indeed. There was … debate about your situation, but every expectation was that we would have been aiming to meet up with you the following week.” 

That made sense, “And then vampires happened.” 

“It was a useful lesson for us that no plan survives contact with reality, and even we can mess up.” He lost his smile, “We never should have let those vampires get anywhere near you. Virginia was staying back enough she didn’t realise what they were until around the same time you did, and then it was too late. I’m sorry for that.” 

It had been long enough to get me some distance from things. I still wasn’t happy about it but it didn’t make me cringe as much. “I’m just glad I remembered how to fight. From the sound of it, they wouldn’t have lasted long regardless, but … “ I gave him a shrug. 

He nodded, “Well, if you ever need to talk to somebody about it, my office is always open, and I’m sure the same is true of Professor Dare’s. Once you formally start we’ll strongly recommend you talk to one of the counselors.” 

“Yeah … I guess it gets easier.” 

More nodding, he was enthusiastic about everything, “Yes. Which may not be the best of things, but it does. We need to be the shield against the darkness, and that means destroying anything that would threaten humans.” 

_I like the phrasing. He’s totally working with Gaia isn’t he._

_I told you so._

“I will do my best to make sure I go after things that are threatening humanity … that’s the point of this place, right? To protect people.” 

He smiled, that moment of perfect ‘we know what each other means and aren’t going to say it’. 

“Thank you for your help with things Professor. I look forward to your classes once school starts for me.” 

“Remember my door is always open if you find some parts of the course hard to deal with.” 

Ah yes, the bit where I might end up having to kill innocent people to keep up a cover. 

I couldn't fake a smile, “I can see there being some problems for me in the future.” 

He gave me a grave look, “Rest assured we will do our best to limit any such issues.” 

“Yeah, we’ll see how that goes.” 

* * *

“So, two more days before I start.” 

Dad nodded, “The good news is you’re not going in cold. You’ve got people you know, friends, at least two teachers who are helping.” 

I looked up at the ceiling, “What happens when I end up having to go after an innocent Alter though. I’m sure they’ll do their best to only put me up against Nocen or critters, but … they can only go so far.” 

Theia asked, “What would your mother do?” 

I thought for a moment, “Subvert her entire team so that if we get into a situation like that we can let the Alters escape.” 

Dad smirked, “That’s Joselyn. It’s going to be weird when we rescue her … I’ve never really met her have I?” 

Theia replied, “I’ve never met her personally, but everything I’ve seen makes me think the important parts of her, that bits that make her Joselyn, were all there. She still had her personality, it was just powers and memories that were missing.” 

“I still think that Joselyn Artherby, leader of the Heretic Revolution will be a different person from who I knew … “ Dad get a soft smile, “but I look forward to the chance to get to know her.” He looked over at the so far silent member of our group, “And I’m looking forward to getting to know your mother as well.” 

Tabbris had been very quiet while the rest of us were talking. She blinked at dad’s comment and nodded firmly. It was one of our other family rules. It wasn’t ‘would we rescue them’ it was ‘when’. Also Tabbris’s mother had been caught by the Imperium because she was trying to help my mom … so it wasn’t just for Tabbris and Theia’s sake we were doing it. This was personal for us as well. 

I took my mouth back, “Oh, Sands was wanting to see my pictures of you. I’m wondering if she’s getting suspicious.” 

My little sister considered that, “We could take some more pictures … ones that look a little bit more like Tabitha Holt?” 

I hadn’t brought it up but she was, unusually for her, not wearing any disguise spell at all. I had forgotten how adorable she could be in her real face, long pale blond hair and the biggest blue eyes. Theia had said she was going to talk to Tabbris about things but I hadn’t expected it to be that effective. Dad hasn’t mentioned anything, just given her a hug when she walked in and I could see her relaxing at it. I’d given her a smile and I think that helped too. 

I looked over at Dad who nodded a bit, “Don’t be too obvious, but I’m not against the idea.” Hair colour was the more notable differences, Tabitha Holt had almost the same hair colour as Tabbris, Tabitha Chambers by contrast was a dirty blond similar to me, verging on brown. Huh. 

I sat up, “Don’t change the disguise. We should take some pictures outside and arrange things so the light makes your hair look lighter. Suggest what we want.” 

Dad was nodding, “That’s a better idea. Have you figured out what you’re going to tell them yet?” 

I snorted, “Don’t be silly. Of course not. If I have a better idea of how much they know, or think they know, I can work it out then.” 

Theia piped up, “You are better at improvisation than most people I know sister.” 

Tabbris shrugged, “I just want my friends back. And I want Theia to have her friends back.” I could feel Theia getting ready to argue the point and then Tabbris gave us a glare the moment my mouth opened. 

_Don’t try to fight a battle you know you can’t win._

I did my best not to smile at the vaguely annoyed Latin muttering in my head. 

Yeah. I think I was as ready as I was ever going to be. It was time to go to school. 


	7. In Enemy Territory

[7 years ago] 

The first time Sarah Mason found out about the new arrivals into her life was when her father Liam took her and her twin sister Sandoval aside “Girls, we’re going to be having somebody stay with us for a little bit.” 

The two nine year olds looked at each other then back at their father, Sands the first to talk, “Who?” 

“Your mother had some friends.” That wasn’t a surprise, mama knew a lot of people, “and they were attacked by Strangers. They managed to call her for help but...” 

Even at their age the two girls knew they lived in a world were bad things could happen to people, every now and then some old friend of the family would just not ever show up again. Sarah quietly asked, “Did the Strangers get them?” 

Liam nodded, “She got there in time to save the children. She’s with them now while the doctors check them out. They don’t know anyone but her so they are going to stay with us for a little, are you going to be okay with that? They’ll have their own rooms but you’re going to have to help a bit with them. They’ve been through a lot.” 

Sands spoke for both of them, “Of course we can daddy.” 

And that was how Alyson and Tabitha Holt came into her life. 

* * *

Audrey frowned. She didn’t know who the new girls were but she recognized those expressions. 

After taking a quick look around the waiting room Audrey stood up and carefully made her way over sit down across from the new girls. She made sure to move slowly and keep her hands visible. The expression on the younger teenager’s face was entirely too familiar. 

The toddler just looked confused and lost, wide eyes trying to take in everything. She was also far too quiet, like she didn’t want to attract attention, or a monster. 

The older girl, fourteen at a guess, was in what might look like a defensive huddle with the toddler held close. Audrey knew that posture, that way of holding a sibling, ready to lash out at anything that might be a threat and then run like a nightmare was chasing you. She’d seen it in the mirror. And if the teenager wasn’t carrying at least one holdout knife she’d be shocked. 

The moment Audrey had moved towards them the teen had locked onto her, tracking her as she got closer and not relaxing when Audrey sat down. 

They sat there in silence for a bit, the teen’s eyes scanning the area, the toddler locked onto Audrey but still not saying a word. A kid that knew that silence was safe and sound was dangerous. Anywhere else she might think abusive family, but there were worse things that could happen in a place like this. 

After a bit to let them get used to her being there Audrey finally spoke, “They’ll let you stay with her when they do the medical checks.” 

They were sitting in the waiting room for what was officially Crossroad’s medical wing, though it was really more of a very small hospital. Audrey had been told the main hospital was even more impressive but she’d never been unlucky enough to go there. The only logical reasons for them to be there was the same reason she was there, getting checked over. 

The teen gave her a confused look. Audrey smiled back, “I’m here because my sister is being checked over … when we first came here she didn’t want to be away from me, and I wasn’t willing to let anyone get her away from me, so they always let us stay together when they were checking either of us. They won’t try to split you up … they probably don’t want you to try and stab somebody.” 

The other girl looked at her for a long moment, their gaze locked into hers and almost painfully intense before she finally spoke, her voice having the rough tone of somebody that had screamed until they couldn't scream anymore. Audrey recognized that too. “How long ago?” 

It was easy to guess what she was asking about, “Nine years ago, Stranger attack not that I knew what they were then … “ She absently rubbed the scar on her chin, “Crossroads only found me a year ago, I’m still in first year now. I’m Audrey, and Lisa is off getting poked at.” 

The teen just sat there for a bit, giving her that same intense look. Even now, looking tired and in shock she was pretty, undoubtedly she’d be beautiful when she was in a better state. Audrey still couldn’t rule out a more mundane kind of abuse. 

Finally the other girl spoke, “Alyson … she’s Tabitha.” 

The toddler finally looked away from Audrey to give Alyson a look at the sound of her name. Alyson managed something that was almost a smile as she hugged Tabitha closer for a moment. 

Audrey kept her tone calm, “Well it’s good to meet you Alyson.” When the other girl looked back at her with a sharp movement Audrey gave her a smile, “I promise you it does get better … it can take years, and the pain never goes away, but you get better at dealing with it.” 

Alyson’s expression was unreadable, but finally she nodded slowly, “I hope so … everything hurts.” 

Audrey sighed, “Yeah, and it never really stops but … you keep moving, you find a way to tolerate it. And you make sure you’re there for the people important to you … “ 

Another glance down at the toddler in lap, “She’s all I have left.” 

“Yeah, so you look after her, help her get through it and she’ll help you. Having friends helps.” 

Another of those sharp movements, Audrey was reminded of having one of the predatory bird based cyberforms looking at her, the same quick movements and focused intensity. “I … haven’t had good luck with friends … and my friends have worse luck around me.” 

More than just a lost family, a lost everything. 

“Well, you keep moving, you keep living. And you try to make new friends … because it’s harder to do it alone.” 

Alyson kept looking at her for long moments in an honestly unnerving way, before finally nodding. “I’ll try.” 

“That’s all I ask, and hey, maybe we’ll see each other around.” She heard her name called out and looked up to see her three years younger sister coming out of the doctor’s office. She thought for a moment about doing introductions but figured Alyson was probably at her limit for ‘people’ right now. 

Keeping her movements slow she stood up, “I’ll see you later.” 

Alyson just nodded, but Tabitha gave her a sudden wide smile and waved. If that wasn’t the cutest kid she’d ever seen she’d eat her sword. 

Giving a smile back she headed over to see how Lisa was doing. Trick was to keep moving and make sure you look after the important people, the rest would sort itself out. 

* * *

Alyson didn’t talk to either Sands or Sarah much to start with, not that either of them were talking much either. 

It made sense in Tabitha’s case since she was all of a year old and not really doing the language thing yet, but that didn’t stop her trying and generally being an adorably cute little bundle of giggles. She very occasionally had the weirdest ability to sneak off the moment people weren’t looking, but Sarah’s mother Larissa could always find the girl. 

Alyson was different. She was a few years older than the twins, but for the first few weeks didn’t seem to want to talk to anyone except Sarah’s mother. 

The twins had been taken aside by their mother to explain it to them a few days in. 

“Is she okay mommy?” Sands was the first to ask. 

Larissa shook her head, “Not right now, but we’re hoping she will be soon. You were told about her family?” 

Sarah nodded, “Strangers got them.” 

Her mother winced a little at that bald declaration but nodded, “Alyson was close enough to get some blood from the creature on her, and that was how she managed to fight it off long enough for me to rescue them. But it also means she saw everything that happened. It’s why she’s so … cautious right now.” 

That was an understerstatment. Alyson didn’t like having people near her that weren’t Larissa, especially Liam … she was starting to get a bit more relaxed around her and Sands. 

Sands’s eyes went wide, “She has powers?” 

Sarah’s thoughts went in other directions, “She needs hugs … but she doesn’t seem to like being touched.” 

Larissa nodded to Sands, “Yes, she has powers. She’s still working out how to use them so don’t pester her about them … I think she’s getting better about the touching thing. Some of it is from the powers, she can give people shocks if she’s not careful.” 

Sands’s eyes were still wide, “Cooool … I mean bad, but … cool.” 

Larissa smiled, “It’s just important that you make sure to give her some space but … don’t be too distant. Helping her with Tabitha would be good, she’s more relaxed around her.” 

Sarah gave a suspicious look, “Is this a way to get us to do babysitting?” 

Sands shrugged, “I like Tabs … I just wish I knew how she got out of the bedroom that time. Hey, is there any chance she got some blood on her too? Can it even work that young?” 

Larissa frowned, “It’s possible, but I hope not. She’s far too young to be trying to deal with powers. Look, just be nice to them, they have both been through a lot and will need support.” She pulled them both into a hug, “I can trust you with this, right?” 

Both girls were happy to agree and neither paid much attention to their mother’s nervousness about the situation. 

* * *

Once they got to know her Aly was kinda fun. Weird though, very weird. Both girls had learned to spot the signs that she needed some alone time, or when she was starting to stress out. Quickly they had found the fastest cure for Aly starting to have a freak-out was to put Tabs in her lap. The little girl, only barely a toddler, had gotten good at picking up on it too and would latch on to Aly like the world’s most adorable blond limpet and refuse to let go until her brunette older sister calmed down. 

Aside from that though Aly was pretty fun to be around though, even if she had the weirdest upbringing. Larissa had explained that Alyson was originally from one of the colonies that didn’t have much contact with Earth, which kind of explained why sometimes she’d get confused by normal things like pizza and TV. She was still very shy though, in contrast to Tabitha who wanted to make friends with everyone. 

Sands of course wanted to know about the powers. They weren’t that impressive compared to what the Heretics they lived around could casually do but it was different coming from a girl that wasn’t that much older than them and almost seemed younger at times. Also very willing to show them off once she calmed down, which in Sands’s eyes made her the best guest ever. 

“Okay, I think I’ve got it this time.” Alyson was holding an incandescent light bulb in her hand, both of the twins and Tabitha gathered around. 

Sarah looked at it doubtfully, “Just don’t explode this one, we’re just lucky mummy didn’t catch us last time.” Also lucky that Aly was apparently fast enough to have noticed the bulb starting to go and put it under the chair before it had time to finish exploding. The speed thing she seemed to have well in-hand … the electricity, not so much. 

Sands was, in Sarah’s opinion, leaning way too close to the possibly explosive light bulb, “Don’t worry, it will be fine … “ 

The bulb flickered a bit and then lit up with a constant glow, the light reflected off the wide eyes of all the girls watching, Tabitha pointing at it, “Glowy” Nobody had told Sarah how old Tabitha was but she seemed to pick up words really quickly. 

Aly bit her lip as she watched the glow, “Okay … it’s just about trickling power into it … “ there was a sudden brief flash and then the bulb failed as the filiminet gave out. “Okay, a bit more careful than that … it didn’t explode this time though.” 

Sands was gleefully bouncing where she sat, “Getting better. Hey, let's go outside and you can practice your aim again … I want to see you throw lightning bolts some more.” 

Alyson’s power seemed fairly all or nothing at times, though Sarah had to admit that fit Aly herself pretty well. She seemed to jump between emotions pretty quickly and was really bad at ‘calm’ unless she was holding a sleeping Tabitha. Everyone had learned to be careful about making too much noise at times like that. When it came to guarding Tabitha’s sleep, Aly had a death-glare that even mommy and daddy didn’t want to be on the receiving end of. 

Alyson gave a small smile, “Sure, I need to work on my aim.” 

Sarah relaxed a bit, Aly was having one of her good days. There were more and more of those lately and less bad days, but when they came the bad days could be hard, like the times when Aly would just start shaking, or when she didn’t want anyone getting close enough to touch her. 

A few minutes later they were down one of the training ranges, Aly was lining up on the targets and Sarah had somehow ended up on Tabitha wrangling duty. At least for all her ability to wander off sometimes Tabitha seemed to have a good grasp of ‘don’t touch, dangerous’ and ‘don’t run away outside’, happy to stay close to Sarah. 

Just as Alyson was about to try firing Sands interrupted, “Do the full thing.” 

Aly rolled her eyes but took a stance. She’d gotten dragged into them watching Avatar the Last Airbender and while she generally thought the entire series was a bit silly and really didn’t get the jokes, she had been rather taken with Azula. Especially when Lightning Bending had shown up. 

One thing about Alyson was that she took to martial arts like a natural, even if that was mainly sparring against mommy, and she mimicked the sequence from the cartoon perfectly, even down to the trails of electricity in the air as her arms swung around, then she put a pair of fingers out and thunder roared over the area as a bolt of lightning linked her to the target. 

Sarah took her hands off her ringing ears, shaking her head a little. It was fun but so bright and loud. A quick check confirmed that Tabitha had also put her hands over her ears and was giggling in excitement. Tabitha always seemed to take weird bits of powers and magic in stride. 

Sands was checking the readout, “Hey, that was almost a bullseye this time, you’re getting better.” 

The older girl leaned over and give another one of her small brief smiles, “I think I need to get better at lower power … I need to learn how to not explode light bulbs … or other things.” 

Sarah was getting better at spotting the signs of Aly getting into one of her darker moods, fortually she had prepared for this. A slight nudge sent Tabitha toddling over to apply hugs. Fortunately she didn’t need to pull out the big guns for this, besides they were currently out of ice cream which was a great tragedy that she’d already explained to mommy in detail about how dangerous that was. Mommy seemed a bit more doubtful but Sarah was sure she could talk her around. 

* * *

“Sarah, Sandoval, I need to have a talk with you about something serious, okay?” Had she found out about the light-bulb trick? Or the cooking experiments? They had cleaned up the kitchen after that one! All of it even! 

Sarah and Sands exchanged looks then back to mommy, Sarah taking the lead, “What’s wrong?” 

“Mommy just needs both of you to keep a secret, okay? For Alyson.” 

The girls exchanged another look, Sarah asking, “From who?” 

“From everyone except us and Alyson. It’s really important.” 

Sands spoke up this time, “But you said we’re not supposed to lie.” Sarah nodded firmly, they were good girls, and mommy had never told them not to try cooking, just that they couldn’t use the stove, which they totally hadn’t. 

“This is for their protection, especially Alyson’s. I never wanted to have to explain this to you but the reason Alyson is like she is isn’t just because of what happened to her family, It’s about her birth family too.” 

Without looking, the twins took each other’s hands. Alyson had always made it clear that she wasn’t directly related to Tabitha, none of which got in the way of how much the two were devoted to each other. She also got really quiet the couple of times anyone had asked about her birth family, a really uncomfortable kind of quiet that even Tabitha hugs and ice cream didn’t cheer her up from. 

Larissa picked up how serious her daughters had gotten, “Sometimes parents can be bad people that hurt their child, not for anything the child did, but because they are really bad parents.” 

Sands’s eyes were wide, though Sarah managed to work out the implications quicker. Her voice was soft, “Alyson’s first parents … they were bad people weren’t they?” That got a look from Sands, who’s eyes went even wider as they thought it through themselves. 

Sarah was still thinking it through, though it was Sands that beat her to the next question, “Um … mommy. Are her parents still looking for her?” 

Their mother shook her head, “No, but it’s important they don’t get any hint she is here. They think she’s … gone, and it’s important they keep thinking she’s gone. We just need to not tell people about some things she can do.” 

Sands asked, “Like what. I think everyone has seen her using powers.” 

At the lack of argument Larissa relaxed a little, “People need to not know she can do more than lightning and being fast. I know she was helping you cook earlier.” Both girls looked guilty for a moment, then tried very hard to not look guilty. Larissa couldn’t help a small smile, “It’s okay, I’m not angry.” 

Sarah relaxed a little, then worked it out, “She can do heat and cold too, she’s trying to see if she can use that for ice cream.” This was important research they were doing! 

Their mother nodded, “Yes she can. You need to not tell anyone about that. And if she doesn’t talk in English, don’t tell people about that either. She grew up speaking a different language and it’s a dangerous hint to where she grew up. We need to hide that, for her and Tabitha’s sake.” 

Sands’s tone was careful, “Even from daddy?” 

Larissa’s expression was complex, “Daddy is a good person but … sometimes people can be good to some people and bad to others. If you never see their bad side then you might think they are a good person. Alyson’s parents are like that, and they have friends that don’t know what they are really like … daddy sometimes talks to some people that might talk to them.” She got a bit of a pained expression, “Sometimes daddy isn’t as good at keeping secrets as he should be, he can be too trusting of the wrong people. It’s better if we don’t tell him.” 

The two sisters looked at each other for a long while. On one hand, daddy, on the other hand they didn’t want anything bad to happen to Tabby and Aly. Reaching agreement they nodded to each other then looked back at mommy and nodded again, Sarah saying, “Okay we won’t tell anyone.” 

Sands blinked, “Is this why Aly doesn’t like daddy?” 

Sarah thought about that for a moment, then nodded to herself. Aly had never been comfortable around daddy, early on she’d just get very quiet if he was around. These days she’d talk but she was never relaxed if he was in the room, and she’d gotten good at knowing when Aly was being polite to hide how stressed she was. 

Larissa winced a little, “She … knows he might talk, so yes. I’m going to talk to her about hiding things better.” She saw their reaction, “Don’t worry, if you keep it quiet you can keep experimenting, though if you managed to make ice cream, I get to have some okay?” Then she crouched down and both of them came in for a hug. 

Adult stuff was complex Sarah had decided. But hugs were good and simple, so she’d stick with those for the moment. 

* * *

“NO!” 

Audrey was still turning around to see why the normally very quiet Alyson had shouted when the teenager in question _moved,_ seeming to almost teleport to grab her Lisa’s wrist. It took Audrey few more moments to realise what had happened, Lisa’s hand held just above the rune Alyson had drawn up earlier and then left to one side. 

Lisa squeaked at Alyson suddenly just being there, trying to pull her wrist out of Alyson’s unmoving grip. 

Audrey put one hand up, keeping quiet to not set off the somewhat unstable Alyson any more than she already was, “Ah, I think I missed something?” 

The Mason twins had gone a bit pale, Sarah the first to speak, “There is an age limit on people casting magic. If you’re too young you can’t reliably control the energy flow.” 

Audrey frowned, “And that means?” 

Lisa had stopped trying to fight out of Alyson’s grip when it obviously wasn’t working and was just giving Alyson an annoyed look. Audrey took a mental note of that, sure Lisa wasn’t exactly strong but the way Alyson’s hand didn’t even quiver despite Lisa’s best efforts implied some super-strength to go with the speed. 

Sands’s tone was careful, “Ah … it means you dump all your personal energy into the spell, and die. Mum and dad were always very clear about that.” 

Audrey and Lisa both went whiter than the twins had. Alyson let go of Lisa’s wrist once it seemed that the girl had gotten the point, then picked up the paper with the rune on it and carefully tore it in half. Her voice was back to it’s normal quietness, “It was my fault, I shouldn’t have left this sitting around.” 

Lisa gave Alyson an odd look, “Wait, you’re my age. Why is it safe for you?” 

Alyson shrugged a little, “I’m a natural, apparently the thing that I got powers off also gave me really good magical control. They checked … don’t use me as a baseline, um, for anything really.” 

Audrey frowned, “I don’t recall that being mentioned in magic class.” She was only in first year at this point but that seemed an important thing to know. 

Sands thought about it, “I guess it doesn’t normally come up. We don’t normally have anyone that young that doesn’t know. We got told it when we were young.” 

That really did bring home the massive difference between somebody who really grew up ‘in the knowledge’ vs people that used to be bystanders like Audrey and her younger sister. 

And then there was Alyson. 

She understood the girl’s caution and general twitchyness. For her and Lisa the loss of their family to a Stranger was almost a decade ago, not something you ever forget but time had given some … distance to it. For Alyson it was only a couple of months ago, and Audrey knew from bitter personal experience it took a lot longer than that to get over it. 

Beyond that though Alyson was just … odd. Apparently from one of the off-world colonies, and that Crossroads had those was still weird, Alyson still would sometimes be confused by bits of modern day society, even the Heretical culture version of it. It was funny, the existence of smartphones for example didn’t throw Alyson, even if the user interface took a bit for her to get the hang of, but she recalled how surprised the girl had been that you could play games on them. Just the little things were odd for her. 

Sands looked around the group, “So … anyone want to try our latest attempt at ice-cream?” 

It turned out to be the perfect topic change and a few minutes later the entire group was sitting inside the Mason’s kitchen having some of the smoothest ice cream Audrey had ever encountered, “Okay, how did you get it this good? Did you use a spell and can you teach me?” 

Alyson blushed a little, “It’s not a spell … just a matter of taking care.” 

Audrey did her best to ignore the little smirks the twins were trying to hide. There were things being hidden here, she had managed to work that out, though she was pretty sure most other people hadn’t noticed anything. The circle of people that Alyson would interact with was vanishingly small. 

For the moment she was willing to let it go, though the temptation to try and work out what was really going on was strong. But she looked at all the happy girls in the kitchen, and decided to let it go and enjoy the moment. Some things were more important than curiosity. 

* * *

Sarah glared at her mother. She was still upset over Alyson and Tabitha having to go away then she saw her mother’s expression. Something had happened. 

“Sarah, Sands, I need to tell you something important. It’s another secret, and it’s really really important you keep this quiet.” 

Sarah looked at her sister then back at her mother and nodded, “Okay mama.” 

Larissa took a breath, “I’m here to tell you that safe house Alyson and Tabitha were at was attacked and destroyed, probably by some relative of the Stranger that attacked them before.” Before the girls had a chance to react to that she quickly went on, “That’s a lie. They are both safe and well.” 

It was Sands that talked first, “Mama, did you do that to hide them. Make people think they are dead?” Sarah thought about the Bystander detective shows she’d watched with her sister, that was totally a thing that could happen, right? 

“You are such clever girls. Yes, and this is why it’s important that you not tell anyone. When it’s safe I can let you talk to them again, but that’s not going to be for a long time. It’s okay if you think they are still alive. No bodies were found, and while everyone officially thinks they are dead they do think it’s possible that Alyson fought off the attackers, and then took Tabitha and ran away from everyone.” 

Sarah had to admit that did seem like something Aly would do. 

“So it’s okay if you think that’s what happened. But you must never let anyone know that you know for sure they are safe. I’m going to need you to both be very brave about this.” 

Sarah said, “You need us to look if we’re being brave, don’t you?” 

Sands gave her a confused look, then blinked and nodded. 

Larissa gave both of them a tight hug, “I’m sorry to make you do this my brave girls, but it’s important.” 

When they let go Sands looked like she was only just managing to hold back tears. Sarah gave her a quizzical look and Sands said, “We’re not going to see them for a long time … years maybe. I’m just thinking about that a lot.” 

Yeah, that did it. Aly and Tabs had to go away and they wouldn’t get to see them for ages. By the time Larissa took them out to meet the others neither girl was having trouble looking like they were trying hard not to cry. 

But they knew the truth. They knew their friends were still out there, and it was just a matter of when they would see them again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks go to pheonix89 who created Audrey and Lisa Wilson and allowed me to use them in my story.


	8. Infiltration 2.01

[Monday, September 4, 2017] 

“Nervous?” 

I gave Sands a raised eyebrow, “Yes. Leaving aside that I’m about to let a weird magical machine powered by a decapitated monster-head make permanent changes to me, it’s … “ I glanced at her sister. 

Sands turned to see Sarah giving her a flat look. Sands blinked, “You have a point.” 

“Oh, you wanted to see more pictures of the brat?” I handed my phone over to Sarah, “I got some yesterday, she was pleased to know she apparently has a fan-club at my school already.” 

There was a brief scuffle as Sarah refused to give up the phone as I turned to go up the stairs the normal direction as we got to the platform at the top of the lighthouse. 

Standing on the platform were the other fifteen Bystander-kin for this year, seven boys, eight girls and a scattering of ethnicities which was a change after my almost entirely white school. Most of them were strangers, small s, to me though I recognized Roxa and Vanessa. Technically Sarah and Sands weren’t supposed to be up here but their class let out early and they wanted to at least keep me company till the teacher got here. 

_We know him._

There was another student, in uniform, who looked up when he saw the three of us and rolled his eyes. “Took your time didn’t you?” Then seeing the Mason twins he smiled, “Ah, perfect. Right, this is your problem now. I’ve got places to be.” He didn’t even wait for a reply and just headed for the stairs, smirking at my wide-eyed look, “Try not to trip over anything while distracted, the paperwork is a pain.” 

Ignoring the ‘HEY!” from Sands he bounded downstairs before anyone could stop him. I blinked a few times, “Okay, who the hell was that?” 

_And seriously, who the hell was that?_

One of the other students, an African-American boy, spoke up, “He said he name was Deveron, didn’t explain much though.” 

_Remember the person monitoring our house? The one that tried to wipe your memory of him._

There was a bit of smugness in that last bit, Theia and Tabbris’s mom was an expert in mind spells and considered other people’s memory spells to be polite suggestions. Theia wasn’t anywhere near her level yet, but had been taught some tricks. She couldn’t do anything about at least one Memnosyne spell already in effect on me, and the rest of the planet, but getting anything else on me to stick was apparently going to have a much harder time. If nothing else Theia had a hell of a ‘home ground’ advantage going on with my head. 

Sands was frowning, “He’s second year, supposed to be explaining things. I don’t get it, he’s normally one of the really good students, top of his class.” 

_The one that looked younger on his second visit?_

Whoever this Deveron was he had been spying on my house for years, well before I knew about Theia. The weird thing was that he’d been a grown man the first few visits but on his last one, only a few months ago, he looked student age. 

Of course ‘spying on me’ didn’t tell me much. At best guess there were upwards of five different groups spying on my place off and on. Mom had a hell of a rep. 

Heh. 

_Yes. He’s probably not Eden’s Garden. Nothing else is ruled out at this point though._

Just to start with we have two different Heretic organisations, remnants of mom’s group, Gaia who might be running her own operations, Theia’s species, rogues from Theia’s species, a necromancer, and god knows who else. This Deveron could be with almost any of them. 

The necromancer was one we were sure on, Theia and Tabbris have been having to ward the house against ghosts for years. Thankfully there were _so damn many_ groups trying to monitor me that anything we did everyone else assumed was one of the other groups messing around. The idea of all these groups trying to tiptoe around each other would be funny if it wasn’t my family they were spying on and had managed to miss a Stranger _kidnapping my mother_! 

While I’d been having my little moment Sands had been trying to answer a bunch of questions from my confused classmates to be, though Roxa was helping by pointing out that the twins were ‘good people’ and ‘super helpful’. Even better I’d been still facing where Deveron left so any glaring would look like I was angry about him, and to be fair I was. 

If he turned out to be another person that had failed mom ... 

I shook it off and walked over to the not quite argument, “Look, I don’t know why that asshole bailed on us but we’ve got two experts here in explaining stuff to Bystanders like us. So the way I figure it, we're better off than when we started.” 

One of the other girls, pale with long brown hair drawn into a braid spoke up, “Experts. Really?” 

She did a double-take as me, Vanessa, and Roxa all nodded rapidly in one of those unplanned bits of synchronisation. 

Sands smirked, “I’m Sands, this is my sister Scout. Our mother used to be the head of Student Affairs for the school and we’ve had to help with people with non Heretic, or at least non-typical Heretic backgrounds in the past, so working out how to translate ‘crazy Heretic stuff’ to ‘normal world’ has become a hobby for us. The teacher should be up soon to do the proper introduction but we can answer some questions you’ll have.” 

_Larissa would be impressed and proud._

Sarah leaned over to whisper in Sands’s ear. Sands nodded, “Oh, if you could introduce yourself when you ask a question, it would be helpful for us getting to know who everyone is.” 

The brown haired girl put a hand up, “I’m Koren, Koren Fellows. First question, “ she pointed at Sarah, “does she ever speak or is this like Penn and Teller?” 

Sands looked confused at that but Sarah smirked, quietly saying, “Yes … but not much.” 

_From stories I’ve heard if you want a real Penn and Teller vibe you want to go back to mom and her brother. He did all the talking, and I get the impression she did most of the thinking._

The African-American boy that had talked earlier spoke up again, “I’m Columbus, this is my sister Shiori,“ pointing to a cute asian girl, “so I’m getting that a bunch of you know each other?” 

Roxa took over, “Oh yeah, I’m Roxa. Anyone that doesn’t have a safe home-life when they find you they bring here. In my case I was living in a tent on a beach when Professor Pericles found me.” She looked over with a questioning look, “Vanessa?” 

The blond girl shrugged, “Foster family, not one I was close to.” 

I gave the group a smile, “Felicity Chambers, or Flick. My family is great, but I’m a bit of a weird case so they were having me come here on weekend visits. Probably to keep me out of trouble, I got picked up by Professor Dare while fighting a couple of vampires … in my defence I didn’t start that fight.” 

A guy with obviously dyed red hair and obvious tattoos spoke up, identifying himself before moving onto his question, “Virus, I mean Russell. You got into a fight with a vampire?” 

“Three technically, though Professor Dare got the third one while he was running for it. So there is this thing where if a Bystander gets a Stranger’s blood in them it can give them powers … I’m given to understand that, “ pointing at the Edge, “is an artificial version of the process. So I’ve already got powers, that’s going to let me pick up more.” 

“Bull, Pericles said vampires are like really dangerous.” That came from a hispanic boy with long curly black hair. 

I smirked then boosted hard, going fast enough to look like I almost teleported in front of him, tapping him on the nose. “They are. Just as fast as I was just then for a start, plus strength and a few other things. Point of this place is to give us powers to match it.” Most of the room had jumped back when I pulled that stunt and he was giving me a wide-eyed look. 

Once he’d had a moment to catch up with things I did a one-handed cartwheel backwards to where I had started from. I have to say the sense of balance was probably one of the more fun bits of the powers I had. It was interesting to see how people responded, most of the room was startled though the twins, Vanessa, and Roxa had seen me showing off before. Vanessa was giving me a really odd look and a native american looking girl seemed to take it in stride. 

Sands snickered, “Don’t worry, we’ll all be getting to do things equally weird in the future. Flick just has a head-start but the rest of us will catch up, that’s what the Edge is about.” 

The guy I booped looked like he was about to say something when a familiar voice came from the stairs, “That’s an acceptable summary Sandoval. Though I’m curious why you are here, and where is Mr Adams?” 

Sands looked over at Professor Dare, and Mr Neal coming up the stairs, replying to the professor’s question, “Professor Nimbles let his class out early so we were walking Flick over and as soon as we got up here Deveron told us they were our problem now and bailed.” 

Putting her hand to her forehead, Professor Dare sighed. “You may have been raised within the Knowledge, but you are still first-year students. Deveron is in his second year and is well aware of his new responsibilities. Still, there are worse people he could have left here.” 

Mr Neal spoke up, “I remind you two that your proposed new course has not been authorised yet Miss Mason.” 

The twins looked studiously innocent, Sands replying, “We’ve just been answering questions. No paperwork.” 

One of the girls asked, “Paperwork?” But Professor Dare was rolling into the introduction speech. Most of it was stuff I already knew, what Bystanders were, the official story on what Strangers were, and where the term Heretic came from. She delivered the speech well though, Mr Neal seemed mainly just to be staying out of the way. 

_Is it just me or is he paying a lot of attention to us?_

_It’s not just you. I thought they would at least be more subtle with the monitoring._

_So not Empire?_

_Oh, he may well have one of us inside him. He is after all a replacement for the woman who was specifically targeted by us to be taken over as a spy._

The story behind how Larissa Mason met Tabbris’s mother, while she was still an Empire loyalist, was fascinating and in places horrible. Hopefully it would make a good story someday when I managed to find Tabbris’s older siblings. 

Dare had finally gotten to the good bit, “That is why we are up here. Because to truly understand what these creatures are, and to become immune to their memory alteration, you must see the light.” 

With that, she shoved up on a lever attached to the light in the middle of the room. Suddenly, I was blinded as the thing grew painfully bright. All around me, I heard the others crying out as well. 

“Look into the light!” Professor Dare called. “Do not close your eyes, and do not look away. Look into it and receive the gift of truth! This is what gives us our power, our skill, our ability to fight these invaders and stop them from taking our world. The light illuminates the truth and will ensure that you are never again blind to the invaders. This is how we survive. This is how we choose. This is how we retain our memory of these monsters, and see them for what they truly are.” 

“This… is the Heretical Edge.” 

_Oh. It is a skull. It doesn’t look happy._

And then I was somewhere else. 

* * *

I found myself sitting in a car seat and it didn't take me more than a moment to recognize where I was. It may have been ten years but I knew this car and as I looked over at the blond woman in a sheriff's uniform I knew the driver. 

"Mom?" 

For a moment I almost tried to touch her but I'd been told about this by Theia and I knew this was just a memory. Here I was nothing more than a ghost. In the background I could hear Professor Dare's voice echoing like thunder and telling me the same thing but I didn't care. 

I was with mom again. It might only be a vision but I'd take it. I rested my hand just above her shoulder, not wanting to risk a touch that would break the illusion that she was really here. I could feel tears running down my cheeks, "Some day mom, we'll be together again. I'll find you ... if you don't rescue yourself first." 

There was a sudden drawn breath from the back seat and I looked over to see Theia, eyes wide looking at us both. She'd been able to visit my dreams as long as I'd known her and I guess this was just another dream. "It's mom, she's here." 

Theia looked like she always looked in my dreams, an almost ethereal figure a few inches taller than me despite only looking about fourteen, with brown hair and eyes and the almost shockingly beautiful looks that was typical for angels. Something was wrong. Theia looked almost panicked. "Oh lords ... Felicity, I'm so sorry. I'm so very sorry." 

What was she talking about, things were fine, I was with mom and the vision was ... going to show me when an ancestor encountered a stranger. 

Oh no. No no no. 

This was it, this was the night I lost mom. 

I don't want to see this. Please don't make me. 

Theia could tell I'd realized and reached out to take my hand. At least we were solid to each other, "You're strong, strong enough to see this. Visions are ... significant." 

A car rocketed past us, blaring its horn as it went well past the speed limit. Mom blinked then shook her head and muttered, "Damn tourists." She started the siren and took off after it, "Don't worry, baby. I'll make this quick." 

"No you won't. Oh god mom, why did it have to be this?" Theia gave my hand another squeeze. 

Mom reached out to touch the small photo she had of me taped to the dash. I remembered that picture, I was grinning like a loon in it. Memory was all I had of it, it had vanished with her. I looked at the back seat again, "Remember this, every little detail. If we have to go through this than I don't want to lose anything." 

It was redundant, she'd never forgotten anything since her mind was developed enough to really grasp what it was seeing, but she nodded. She'd be my camera in this place no camera could be taken. 

We pulled to a halt behind the car that had stopped by the side of the road and had even turned the engine off. Mom was looking at it for a bit with her 'I don't trust this' expression. Theia's flatly delivered statement "Trap." was unneeded. 

Mom called in that she'd stopped and the car's plate. I didn't need Theia to remember that one for me. It was burned into my mind from dad's notes and the years he'd been looking for her. She opened the door and stepped out, Theia and I followed by just walking through the car. What was solid to us in this vision seemed to be as little as it could to let us get to where we needed to be. 

"That's him isn't it?" The man looked so ordinary, like just some guy, like an accountant or something. Average brown hair of average length and hazel eyes. He was even a bit overweight with a noticeable paunch. He didn't look like the man who'd caused the Black Death, the most scary and powerful necromancer ... anywhere really. 

Theia nodded, "That's him. I know him from reports and that's the same man I saw pretending to be your dentist." 

Yeah, the dentist. That's a story for later, but it's how we knew who probably took mom, and resulted in a pile of dead innocents, which is apparently par for the course when he went anywhere. In this case I guess the town got lucky, all he killed was a bit of me and dad. 

Even before he talked I wanted him dead so much I could taste it. And right now anger was the only thing keeping me from breaking down. 

"Sir, can you tell me where you’re going in such a hurry?" Mom sounded so calm, so confident. Youngest sheriff the town had ever had, possibly the state, and she had earned it. 

He just looked at mom for a bit, looking her up and down in a way that made me want to hit him even more. When he spoke it was relaxed and calm, "You see? I told you that you’d look very good in a uniform, Joselyn. And here we are." 

Mom stepped back, moving her hand closer to her gun. It wouldn't be enough, Theia's people had been trying to kill him off and on for a long time, and it had never been enough. Heretics, from all factions, had been trying even harder, and it was never enough. "Excuse me? Do… we know each other?" 

He chuckled then frowned and shook his head. "No, this isn’t nearly as much fun if you don’t understand what’s happening. You’re nothing now, nothing like you’re supposed to be." He let out a long sigh and shook head head again, "You need to remember, or it won’t be worth the trouble." 

Theia spoke up, "If she was who she was supposed to be you'd be on fire and this area would be a crater." 

Mom managed to get out "Remember wh–" and then he summoned up a pair of ghosts with a flick of his hand. Weak things, I knew enough tricks to be able to stop them even without Theia's help. But they were enough to grab mom's arms and hold them out to lock her in place. 

The hardliner Heretics had been the ones to leave mom like this, in a state where an old nightmare could just walk off the street and take her. She should have been powerful, near unstoppable, if not able to kill him because it seemed nothing could, able to fight him off, force him to retreat. 

"What th—let go of–" Mom was trying to fight her way free but it wasn't working. Seeing her like this hurt even more. "You’re… you’re not…" Mom's voice cracked a little, and her head tilted back, eyes widening with realization. "You can’t be—this isn’t… real, this isn’t real. It can’t be. It… This isn’t–" 

That was the Bystander Effect. Something to keep people unable to see, unable to fight ... unable to work with the Alters in a way that would make both better. A thing to limit our entire race. A curse laid on us by the Imperium that Theia and Tabbris had run from. 

Thousands of years of limiting humanity, and I still didn't hate them as much as I hated this man. 

He got out of the car properly, stopping to sprinkle some ash so he could stand on it. 

Theia pointed, "That's his only weakness. The Heretics managed to hit him with a curse, they banned him from setting foot on Earth without being badly weakened." She sighed, "Of course he found a workaround, he just needs to be able to sacrifice people purely so he can walk around. His casual willingness, and ability, to do that tells you everything you need to know about him." 

Mom managed to pull herself free for a moment and I had to hold down the sudden burst of happiness as she opened fire, hitting him four times in the body. I knew it wouldn't be enough. 

He stumbled ... there was no injury, no blood, just a destroyed shirt, but he stumbled. I needed to remember that. He was immune to damage, but not to being pushed around. 

Mom went into even more shock, "No… That’s not…". Push too far and most people would get shut down by the Bystander Effect like mom was going, or stop even being able to see the impossibilities. Mom was tougher than most though, trying to shoot him again but the ghosts had grabbed her once more. 

He produced a small red stone, a quarter sized ruby, and grabbed mom by the chin, ignoring her threats - forcing it into her mouth before making her swallow it. Then he stood back and just waited. 

Theia grabbed onto me, holding me tightly as I watched mom go through convulsions, crying out in pain as whatever spell stone or drug he'd forced on her had its effect. I knew she lived through this, but it hurt to see her like this. The anger wasn't enough anymore and I could barely see through the tears. 

When mom got herself back under control the ghosts let go and she looked at him with recognition. "Fossor." 

Fossor, possibly the greatest known necromancer, a man who had killed entire worlds, who left a trail of death wherever he walked. And the man who was about to walk off with my mother. 

He sounded pleased, "There we are. You see? This sort of thing is so much better when you’re more than another clueless, blind sheep, isn’t it? Much more amusing." 

Mom gave her gun a glance where it had fallen and he just chuckled. "You know better now, Miss Atherby. There’s no point. That human weapon is incapable of hurting me, and you have nothing else. I have restored your memories, not your abilities. I don’t wish to lower myself to fighting you. But I do want you to understand what I am about to take away from you. Or rather–" He gestured at mom's car and the door popped open, the photo of me from the dash flying over for him to catch. "–who I am taking away." 

Wait, what? 

But he was after mom. It was always mom he was after, he came here for her, the great Joselyn Atherby, leader of the revolution, the woman who brought Heretic society to its knees. 

It was her he was after, right? 

"Theia?" 

She just held me as I watched mom attack him with a scream, grabbing the photo back and smashing him into the car, unleashing a set of attacks that would have been lethal or at least crippling to a normal human. 

It didn't hurt him at all. 

He was laughing as he grabbed mom by the arm and slammed her up against the car, holding her in place as he gloated. "My beautiful creature, you are feisty. I wonder if your child will be the same once I’ve had the opportunity to… educate her, to bring her up in my image. What do you suppose your old enemies and friends will think of her then?" 

"No! Fossor, no! Not—no! Not Felicity!" mom jerked against his grip, still furious before blurting, "Me. Take me instead. Take me instead." 

Oh god no. No, NO! Don't do it, please mom, don't do it. 

"Theia, we have to stop her, she can't do this ... she can't, please ... please." 

The only thing holding me up now was Theia. 

"You?" Fossor sounded amused. "What would I want with you when I can raise your daughter to be my perfect weapon? Why would I want to risk all of your annoying attempts to rebel when she can be much more easily molded?" 

And for a moment I even found myself agreeing with him. Not mom, don't take mom. 

Mom went quiet, still. Then she softly said "I’ll take an oath spell. I know you know how to do that. I will obey you as long as you don’t harm my child. I’ll go with you, I’ll do… I’ll do anything you want. Anything. Just leave Felicity alone. Please. She’s a child, she doesn’t know anything about any of this. If you take her, I’ll find a way to track you down. You know I will. But if you take me, there won’t be anyone looking for you until you’re ready. You can have me, Fossor. I’ll take the spell, I’ll take the oath. Take me, not her. Leave Felicity. Leave my child alone." 

He stopped to think about that, reaching out to touch mom's face. "Take the great rebel leader herself, hmm?" He tilted his head before nodding. "You’ll take the oath of obedience, and I will cause no harm to come to the child, Felicity. Understood?" 

"Yes," mom spat, staring at him. "That’s the deal." 

I’d hated her for years until Theia and Dad talked me around, blamed her for walking out on us, blamed her for giving me a hug, telling me she’d be right back, and then just walking off to a stranger’s car. 

She’d done it for me, she’d sold herself into slavery for me. It had always been for me. 

When the vision ended I was still screaming. 


	9. Infiltration 2.02

[Monday, September 4, 2017] 

**Shiori**

My mother was a Stranger. 

My mother was a _vampire_. 

There had been no other way to interpret my vision, me as a baby being given to the adoption agency. My mother _forcing_ the agency to take me, with her powers. My mother is a monster. 

Oh god. I’m in a school full of monster hunters. I’m being trained to be a monster hunter, and I just found out I’m half-monster. 

I don’t want to be a monster. 

What if I hurt somebody. What if I hurt _Columbus_. 

What if they find out and _they_ hurt Columbus. 

I was forced out of my panic by screaming. The blond girl, Flick, was having a total breakdown, screaming and sobbing. Professor Dare was holding onto her, trying to get her to calm down, while the other teacher was just looking a little lost. 

Had she found out her mother was a monster too? 

“Felicity, deep breaths, what happened? Did it take you back to your fight?” 

The vampires, she’d already killed two, and I was going to be in the same year as her. Though if Professor Dare thought this was a reaction to her reliving it, how bad had it been? 

Flick came out of her panic with an almost horrifying abruptness, like somebody had slapped her, giving Dare a hollow look. “He took her, he took mom … he wanted to take me but she gave herself to him instead … it was to save me, I hated her for years and she did it all to save me … “ her voice getting higher with each word. 

The professor’s voice was slow and calming, this can’t have been the first time she’d done this. I really wished I had somebody do that for me. “Deep breaths, just like before .. “ okay, this wasn’t the first time she’d helped _Flick _though something like this. That fight must have been really bad. Flick seemed so calm, so confident before when talking about it. “Who took her, do you know?” 

The name Flick said didn’t mean anything to me. “Fossor … she called him Fossor, she knew him. He had … ghosts … he wanted me, he took her but he wanted me, she said she’d swear to serve him if he just left me alone … it was my fault, it was all me … all that time, it was me … “ 

It didn’t mean anything to me but it obviously meant something to the others. The twins gasped while Professor Dare went as white as a sheet. “Oh god no, not him … “ 

The other professor, the man I didn’t recognize looked like he’d been punched. He shook it off and looked around, a gap having formed around him, Professor Dare, and Flick as everyone gave them room. He seemed almost a little lost looking for a moment then walked over to the twins. “Sandoval, Sarah, I need to go with them. I don’t have time to find … look, you two probably know the tour better than anyone, guide them around, give them the talk … stay away from controversy.” 

The looked at each her for a moment then nodded, and surprisingly it was the quiet one that spoke up, “Look after her.” 

He paused, and then nodded, stepping back over to the other two just in time for Dare to do something and abruptly the three of them were just gone. No portals, no Star Trek flashiness, just one moment they were there, the next moment they weren’t. 

There was a long moment of silence, broken by Sands, “Well … fuck.” 

* * *

**Theia**

Futuō. 

Void take it, why didn’t I see this coming. It’s Joselyn Atherby, she’d do anything for her children. She’s like mom, not even thinking about risking her life or staying in torment if could get her children away. 

Why Flick though … because he thought it was funny? It’s Fossor, half the shit he does is because it amuses him to do so, how do you predict that? 

I still should have seen it coming. 

Oh Felicity, I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to go through that. 

It’s not fair. Felicity’s mother is in the hands of Fossor, Tabbris’s mother is in hell … my mother was a monster that deserved every bit of both of those punishments and she … she was doing just fine. Powerful and respected. 

Sometimes you just want to burn the whole multiverse down. 

I was doing what I could to help Felicity but she was in so much pain. She’d been so angry, so understandably angry at Joselyn, and now it was all turning to guilt. You can’t blame yourself for things like that … you can’t. I … I’m still learning that. Lincoln … dad, was doing his best … it wasn’t Felicity’s fault what happened to Joselyn, it was Fossor’s. It wasn’t my fault what my mother did to me to try and fix my condition, it was hers. 

That didn’t stop it feeling like it was your fault though. 

There was no way for me to stop Felicity feeling like this that didn’t involve violating her mind, and that was a line I was never going to cross. I felt bad enough for what I did to force her out of it long enough to tell people what happened. They needed to know, this was too big a secret for Felicity to sit on, far too big, far too painful. And besides, there was always the chance they might manage to do something about it. 

I mean it was _possible_. Sure, Fossor has been active for thousands of years and among other things had the Imperium after him, with resources that made the combined power of every Heretic on Earth combined look like nothing, managed to not only not die but thrive. But Heretics had hurt him in the past, mostly with that curse they managed to get onto him in the seventeenth century. Maybe they could manage it this time. 

We were in Crossroad’s small hospital wing. This brought back memories, I’d first met Audrey here while Tabris and I were getting checked over. Two Alters right in the middle of their best medical science and magic and they had no idea. When the Imperium set a group up, we didn’t take any chances. 

I knew my thoughts were jumping around but I needed it, I needed to think about something else and not get pulled into Felicity's pain. She needed me to be strong for her. 

_Dad isn’t taking it well._

That was Tabbris, via the mind-link. 

_Has he hit the drink yet?_

_No, he’s just swearing a lot. He’s trying not to get too angry for my sake. He’s … he’s in pain._

_We all are sis, we all are. Just be there for him._

_I can do that. Give my love to Flick._

_I will. Make sure dad calms down soon though, they may well send investigation teams to look around again._

_I think it’s a bit late. I’ll tell him. Take care of yourself as well sis._

Tabbris did anger better than I did, I’d tried to train myself out of that for a long time. It’s kinda funny in a way, normally having your daughter go in a screaming tirade about things is considered a problem. The one time I lost it the rest of the family viewed it as a good sign. I guess I did have a lot of suppressed issues to work though. 

“Here, drink this. It will help.” 

A nurse, not somebody I recognised. He must have started working here after my time. I had to mentally nudge Felicity to get her to respond and help keep the shaking out of her hands so she could pick it up. For the last half hour I’d been dealing with things like walking too. Having to remember to move our body like her, not like me. I was glad we’d practiced, even if I hadn’t had something like this in mind. 

_Just drink it._

_I … I don’t know what to do anymore._

_We sit down, we recover, we get our bearings back, and we go on. It’s what we always have to do. You can make it through this._

_I want dad … I want to go home._

_They would probably let you take some time off if you asked._

_I … I’ll think about it._

We looked up as two people came into the hospital room, Professor Dare and a very tall and almost dangerously thin man, an ill-fitting green suit loosely draped over his nearly skeletal figure. He was looking at us though emerald-tinted sunglasses with apparent fascination. 

Felicity managed to pull some of that dangerous curiosity that's such a core part of her together, _Do you think he knew mom?_

_Odds are for it. Though it could be the other thing, but bets are anyone they send in at this point is at least somewhat in the know._

_Huh._

She just sounded so drained, it hurt to see her like this. She's Felicity, she's the passionate one of us, the active one. I'm the crazy voice in her head that's trying to make sure her curiosity is more dangerous to everyone else than her. 

Left to myself I'd dig a hole, pull everyone I cared about into it, and fill it in behind myself. I knew what we were up against. I knew we couldn't win ... Felicity didn't see that as a reason to give up. Neither did dad or Tabbris. And that's one of the reasons I loved them so much. 

So Felicity not being her normal 'storm the gates of heaven' self ... I'm not supposed to be the proactive one here, it's not my skill-set. I do murdering things and hiding bodies and snark and setting shit on lighting, fire, and ice, sometimes all at once. We have a deal, she does the talking and investigating and optimism, I do paranoia and stabbing things. It's a good breakdown, it works for us. 

I think I want to go home too. 

Professor Dare gave us a careful smile, "Felicity, this is Runner Tribald Kine, he's one of the Bow Street Runners, our police force." 

There was a long pause and I was getting ready to nudge her when Felicity finally nodded, "You want to ask about ... yeah." We took a deep breath, "Okay, I think I can do this." 

The runner's hawkish face softened as he smiled, "We can take this slowly, but it's important people know what happened. If you can describe what happened, in your own words." 

"Right, I always wanted to be a reporter." Another deep breath and I could feel her pulling herself back together, my brave little sister, "I can do you one better if somebody gets the sketching supplies from my luggage." 

_Are you okay with this?_

_Of course, tell me what you want drawn and I'll do it._

"Okay Mr. Kine, my vision started with me in mom's police car ..." 

* * *

**Shori**

“Sorry about that, Flick’s a friend so … yeah.” Sands shook her head, “So we’re going to be giving you a quick tour of the school, but first we wanted to welcome you to the Heretical World.” 

All of us looked at the twins. Columbus was the first to speak up again, “Doesn’t the school handle stuff like this?” 

Sands nodded, “The school is great about introducing you to the school, but Crossroads is more than just a school, there is an entire society here. Both our parents were Heretics, our dad is one of the teachers, we literally grew up here. The only reason we know much about bystander culture is because we both made an effort to find out, so unlike most people in your year we know how weird this place really is.” 

Koren was next, “What was that about controversy? And this being unapproved?” 

Looking around the room nobody seemed quite as put out as I was feeling. There was one really gorgeous guy, if you were into guys which I wasn’t, looking a mixture of ill and pissed off, but he was probably the worst. Nobody else seemed to have taken it as badly as Flick did though. 

Sands rolled her eyes a bit, “Okay, so we’ve been pushing for formal handouts for the Bystanders. Generally people are in favour of the idea but there is a lot of debate over the details. There are topics that aren’t … secret as such, but they would prefer you get used to this place before you run into them. We think that’s bullshit, but when you’re dealing with senor Heretics they can get pretty set in their ways.” 

Even I was wanting to know what these secrets were now and I was pretty sure I wasn't the only one. Sand’s sister, Scout? Yeah, Scout, though that other guy had called her Sarah, leaned over to whisper in Sand’s ear. 

Sands blinked, “Ah yeah. So there are some other things you should have been told but people were distracted. Professare Dare has this whole speech but I’m not even going to try and copy it. Long story short, we’ve been turned into Heretics by the Edge. You’re not Bystanders anymore, you can remember about Strangers, see things for what they are, use magic, all the fun stuff. You’ve also got a sense that will let you detect a Stranger by sight, even if they otherwise look human. It’s two way though, they see us and they know we’re a Heretic instantly, and at that point they _will_ try to kill you.” 

So even if I ever ran into mom again she’d be wanting to kill me on sight. Yay. 

“The big upside though is powers. With Flick … “ she paused and glanced over at where the three had vanished for a moment, “with Flick she’s a Natural. You get Stranger’s blood in you and you get some of their powers, more can show up over time but you can only get powers like that from one Stranger ever. That’s what all Heretics used to be like before the Edge got created by Hieronymus Bosch.” 

Another girl spoke up, she looked middle eastern and a little bit on the plump side, “Wait, like the artist?” She paused for a bit, “Oh, I’m Mary.” 

Sands nodded, “Yeah, the artist. He was a Natural of a creature called a Reaper that can kill other creatures for their powers. Managed to kill it and, well, bits of it are in there apparently.” Scout helpfully pointed at the light. “What the Edge does is it makes us like them, we don’t get any cool powers to start with but anytime we kill a Stranger we get one of their abilities. Only a bit of to start with and the only way to get it better is to kill more Strangers with the same power but it does mean that our potential is open-ended. Along with all the training and education what the school does is get us into situations where we can fight Strangers and get powers off them, so things like what Flick was doing.” 

A caucasian girl with pink hair put a hand up, “Hi everyone, I’m Harper, I’m sure were all going to be great friends. So, what _can_ she do? I’ve seen some things from the adults but it’s a bit different to see somebody in our group with tricks like that.” She paused for a moment, “Um, I understand if you don’t want to talk about your friend right now or it’s secret or something.” 

There was another of those glances between each other then Scout nodded a little, Sands saying “She’s pretty fine with people knowing what she can do, likes to show it off actually. She’s got that speed trick, but her big thing is electricity, she can even throw lightning bolts.” You could tell they were worried about their friend but … I’d dealt with stress by remembering the good times, so I got that. 

I snuck a glance at Columbus who was listening with fascination. He was loving this, getting to be a real life superhero, just like the comics. I guess it wouldn’t be proper comics if we didn’t have at least one hero hiding a dark secret. 

I don’t want to be a monster. 

Harper nodded, “Okay, that’s pretty cool.” 

Sands nodded back, “Powers tend to be, but you have to fight to get every last bit.” She got more serious, “This life is dangerous, our mother used to be the Head of Student Affairs, a trained experienced Heretic with a lot powers an experience under her belt. Six years ago she was killed in a Stranger attack. The teachers here get really serious about things because people die, there are a hundred students in our year and not all of them will still be alive when we graduate in four years. Scout and me really would like it if all of you were still with us when we graduate.” 

“None of the stuff we’re about to tell you about is going to save your life, but it’s going to make it easier to be here, to interact with people like us that grew up in the knowledge. It's the things you don’t need to spend time trying to figure out so you can get better at learning to survive.” She shared another of those almost telepathic glances with her twin, “In the end it’s not really about killing Strangers, it’s about saving Bystanders, saving each other, and saving yourself. If you’re dead you can’t save anyone else.” 

Protecting people … I could do that. 

While we were all dealing with that Scout got what looked like a deck of cards out of her pocket, then proceeded to unfold it several times, the block opening up in some impossible ways till she had a slab of wood about the size of a coffee table book and still as thick as it had been at the start. Everyone stopped to watch that, especially when she put it down in front of her like a desk and left it sitting in the air, just solidly in place despite no apparent support. I saw a small smile sneak across Scout’s face as she watched our reaction. 

Sands nodded to her sister, “We have some handouts. We’re still trying to get them made part of the standard pack for bystander-kin but politics is happening. I am required to note these are _not_ authorised by the school or the Crossroads Committee in any way. Even if several teachers and the Headmistress really like them.” We were mainly watching as Scout proceeded to follow up her previous act by flipping the top of the hovering ‘desk’ open and reaching into it Merry Poppins style, pulling out a box that couldn’t have possibly fit in the maybe one inch thick slab, closing it up again and putting the apparently normal box on top. It was somewhat anticlimactic as she opened that to pull out a bunch of small booklets, walking over to hand one out to each of us. 

The Native American girl pointed at the impossible floating storage box, “I’m guessing that kind of thing is normal around here too?” 

Sands nodded, “That specifically is a custom job that Da made for us when he heard about our plan. But the whole ‘bigger on the inside’ is very common around here, from storage boxes, weapon sheaths up to architecture. There are quite a few buildings around here that are quite a bit larger inside than outside, it’s another one of those things you never think about when you grow up here but.” She shrugged. 

“It’s not ‘Harry Potter Magical World’ bad, but for a start, did you know Crossroads has several off-world colonies? Some of them are the size of a decent city in population numbers.” 

Mary blinked, “Wait, really? Other planets?” 

The smirk got wider, “Yep. Portals to get there, no spaceships. Think Stargate, not Star Trek. But they are out there, we’ve been to a few. The important thing is that I was almost 15 when I realised that for Bystander-kin this would come as a surprise. That’s what I mean when growing up in our society means you take things for granted.” 

* * *

**Theia**

“And that’s when the vision ended … and things got a bit fuzzy after that.” 

Runner Kine nodded, “That is one of the better witness reports I’ve gotten.” He seemed impressed. He’d probably be less so if he knew how much I’d been helping track bits for Felicity, she was still having trouble focusing. 

He looked down at the sketch-pad, “I’m impressed you did that while talking … I do have other questions of course.” 

I finished up the last bits of the, by my standards, somewhat rushed sketch and gave our hands back so Felicity could hand it to him. She managed to give him a painfully wan smile, “It’s helping distract me … that’s him, that’s the man I saw. That’s Fossor.” 

He looked down and nodded. I should hope so, if there is something I take pride in it’s my artistic skills, and being an angel means not having to worry about taking reference photos. I like art, Larissa got me started while trying to get me some hobbies, and I ran into this concept of art therapy. I think one reason I like it is that it’s mine, it’s not something I learned back home or was formally trained in. It's not something to make me a more loyal angel or a better killer, it’s just something I can do for me. 

I think that’s why Felicity always feels bad about claiming my talent there in a way she never feels about about using my elemental powers. Those are just something I inherited after all. Thank you father for giving me one single useful thing in my entire life. 

He let Professor Dare see it, who winced and nodded, before putting it in his folder. Huh … he had the kind of recognition that comes from ‘I’ve seen pictures’, she had the kind of recognition that comes from having personally seen him. She’s fought him in the past, at some point we’ll need to ask her about it. 

“So Felicity, just to confirm. You’ve never seen him before now?” 

We pondered on that before she said, “I … he seemed familiar. Like I had seen him somewhere before. I’m not sure where though ... sorry.” 

That got a slight eyebrow raise, “If you remember do tell me. Now I know this will also be uncomfortable, but I need you to tell me about what you remember from when you last saw your mother.” 

I could feel the wince, mental and physical. That was far too close to remembering the years where she hated Joselyn. And if she’d felt guilty about that before, that was nothing compared to now. 

_You were young, you had no way to know the truth. It’s not your fault._

“That doesn’t make it right Theia, I should have known, I should have trusted her ... “ there was a long pause as Runner Kine and Professor Dare blinked at us, “Shit, I said that out loud didn’t I.” 

_Yes, you did._ It had been a couple of years since Felicity last talked out loud to me without meaning to. I’d let my guard down, stopped being ready to catch her. Stupid. She’s was as stressed as I’d ever seen her. Still, we planned for this. 

The runner carefully asked, “Who is Theia?” 

Felicity sagged a bit in her chair, “You’ve got reports on me. Does that include my shrink’s?” 

“We do try to show some discretion, we knew you had been visiting one for a bit, but haven’t been into her files.” 

We nodded, “Ah, then you don’t know about Theia. It’s going to be easier if you look at her records, I give you permission or whatever … “ Felicity sounded tired, “Long story short, Theia is my imaginary friend.” 

_This wasn’t the way I wanted them to find out._

_There were worse ways … and give me a bit and I might manage to think of some._

There was an even longer pause, before Professor Dare spoke up, “There are some other checks we’d like to run if that’s okay Felicity.” 

Ah, time to check to see if Felicity was crazy or possessed. I wasn’t sure if I wanted them to succeed or fail, on the one hand it would blow our cover, but if they came up with a way to detect a possessing angel … well, some things are worth having a cover blown. 

_This is probably going to be fairly boring._

_A nap sounds good right now._

_Then I’ll watch over you. We’ll get through this sis._

_I’m glad you're here for me. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t._

_You’re tougher than you give yourself credit for, but I’m glad I could be here for you._

By all accounts Fossor couldn’t be killed. But the Empire had trained me to be very good at murdering things, and I’d just found a really good target to practice on. 

You hurt my sister Fossor, and someday I’m coming for you. 


	10. Infiltration 2.03

[Monday, September 4, 2017] 

**Shiori**

"Wait, this has a section on dating?" 

I looked over at my brother, he’d obviously been reading further into the booklet than I had. It seemed fairly easy to read but I was having a hard time focusing on things. 

Columbus’s question drew a slightly confused laugh from the rest of us and people started paying more attention to their booklets. Sands nodded, "Yeah, that's probably the big thing that causes the most confusion and hurt feelings. So, because of dangerous lifestyles it’s not uncommon to see some fairly extended family groups. This also leads to a lot more polyamory than in the Bystander world, especially when people are closer to our age.” 

Columbus raised an eyebrow, “Polyamory? Really?” 

Sands nodded, “If you’re going to date any of the Heretic-born, make sure you have a talk about things like that. It’s fairly normal for some people to be dating several people at once, and not consider it cheating, they may even be planning on making it a long term thing with several people. We haven't run into it personally, but we’ve heard stories of things getting really messy when one side viewed it as a poly relationship and the other person thought it was monogamous. Relationships can get messy enough already, so make sure you talk to whoever you’re going out with and be sure you and them understand how you see things.” 

There was a shrug from Columbus, “That’s not bad advice in general.” 

He got a smirk back, “We’re still human, humans with weird powers and an odd lifestyle, but still all humans here. People are people regardless of what the Edge does to us. Remember that bit and you won’t go too far wrong.” 

“On a related note, this place is very easy going on all sorts of things like that. You’ll find it’s very rare to run into anyone with issues around homosexuality or other lifestyles, or if they do they’ll keep it quiet.” She seemed obviously a bit baffled that anyone might have problems with that which was a bit relaxing. I had enough to worry about right now without people getting on my case over being into girls. 

Though right now anything even resembling a relationship seemed like a really bad idea. It was going to be hard enough hiding things from Columbus. 

Columbus blinked at that, then nodded, “Okay. So, what else do we need to know?” 

Scout suddenly spoke up, startling everyone, “Teachers.” 

Sands nodded, “This school has more resources than some countries, and there are less than four hundred students here at any one time, less than a hundred in our year. The teachers really care about making sure people get the best chance they can at things, and honestly care about the students. I’m not sure what some of you might be used to, but here if you’re having problems go and ask for help from the teacher or their assistants. Asking for help will not get you in trouble around here, knowing when you’re not keeping up or are in over your head and asking for backup is one of the skills they need us to learn.” 

That was greeted with a mixture of interest and polite disbelief. I was more concerned, the last thing I needed right now were teachers paying too much attention to me. 

“I’m serious. The next four years are going to be the hardest of our lives up till now, for most of us at least, Heretic-Born and Bystander-Kin alike. The teachers know that, all of us are going to need help at some point, and they are there for you.” She exchanged a glance with Scout, “Also this life is high stress. The school has some really good councillors, and expect to be seeing them on a regular basis. It’s normal around here, we’re going to be dealing with things that would mess anyone up. Help is there if you need it, and trust me, you’ll need it.” 

“Just be aware that if they tell you to go talk to a counselor, it's not a punishment or because they think you’re weak, it’s because they don’t want people to burn out. Right, other important topics. Ah, age. So, Professor Virginia Dare, who brought us up here, anyone want to guess at her age?” 

A hispanic boy with long curly black hair spoke up, “Hmmm, mid thirties, solid MILF there.” 

The crassness of the comment pulled me away from both thinking how much I could do with talking to a counselor, and how terribly bad an idea that would be. Did he really say that? 

Sands just gave him a look, saying in a dry tone, “Oh, I can see you’re going to be ‘fun’.” 

Vanessa spoke up, “I’m guessing she was born August 18, 1587, Roanoke Colony, North Carolina.” 

Everyone just blinked at her, then Sands slowly nodded, “Ah, I think that was about right, “ she looked over at Scout who nodded, then back, “Yeah, that’s right. First English child born in the New World making her a bit older than America. That’s more accurate than I was expecting, did you look it up in the library here?” 

Vanessa blushed a little, “Wikipedia, and a guess that it was a trick question.” 

“Well, you were right, and if you look over at the wall there is a picture of our headmistress Baroness Gaia Sinclaire, who does really look like that despite being somewhere over eight hundred years old. Immortality, or at least not aging, is a common thing to get. Don’t try to guess how old adult heretics are by looks, or even some of the teenage looking ones if they aren’t at the school. There are heretics around that are thousands of years old, and some of them like looking harmless.” 

Sands pondered, “What else … so, sparring is a thing you’ll see a lot of. You’re going to be issued your weapons soon, there is a page about it, and those are going to be real live weapons that are intended to kill things. Understandably the school comes down on real fighting hard, minor roughhousing you might get away with but using powers on each other, weapons, that will get shut down hard. This place is training all of us to be really good at killing, and they need to know we’ll be aiming it in the right direction. Seriously do not screw around on that front.” 

Another blond girl that looked like she should be on a beach somewhere spoke up, “I’m Roxa. What happens if you push it too far?” 

“There are various punishments, and they’ll have to talk to somebody if it seems to be anger control problems. Worst case … “ 

Scout quietly said, “Banishment.” 

Sands pointed at the light, “That gives powers, it can take them away too along with your memory of being here, make you a Bystander again. If you just can’t make it as a front-line fighter then they’ll find other jobs for you, nobody is going to force you to fight, but in the worst case, they can make you a Bystander again. I mean the absolute worst case is execution, but you need to do premeditated murder for that.” 

Or be part Vampire, I’m pretty sure that could get you executed. I … whatever else happened, if they found out I couldn’t let them take me, I couldn’t let Columbus see. 

That made people go quiet for a bit. Sands said, “About the last important thing I want to say, because while it won’t come up for a while here it’s good to get into your head early, is that you can’t always trust the sense. There are such a thing as what’s called Undocs, undocumented Strangers. They don’t show up to the sense, if they aren’t human looking then you can still see them for what they are but there are human looking Undocs. It’s rare but it can happen, just don’t expect to see it anytime soon.” 

Shit. 

“However if you ever think you’re in the situation of facing an Undoc then make sure, really make absolutely sure. Natural Heretics don't show up on the sense, Heretics from other organisations don’t show up on the sense. Remember, we’re trying to save people, not kill people on the same side because we got freaked … always make sure of your target. You can trust the sense but it only goes so far.” 

She looked around, “Right, so who wants to see around the magic school?” 

* * *

**Theia**

_Wake up Felicity. They’ve finished._

I felt her grumply struggle to wakefulness. As I’d expected a bunch of the tests didn’t need us to be an active participant, and the medical people seemed to feel that after the morning she’d had if Felicity wanted to sleep for a bit that was to be encouraged. 

_Did you stop me having nightmares?_

_Yes, I hope you don’t mind. You weren't in much of a state for me to ask._

_No, it’s fine. Thanks._

She shook our head a bit to try and get us more alert, then blinked at the nurse that had been coming to wake us up. She must have been feeling better, she managed a dry tone, “So, is Theia some kind of evil possessing entity, or am I just crazy?” 

_I like to think I’m not an evil possessing entity._

He gave us a smile, I had to admit he had a nice smile, “There are no indications of any external entities. I wouldn’t use the word crazy, imaginary friends are a well known thing. I’m not an expert though, ah.” He looked up as Professor Dare came in. He gave another of those nice smiles and then walked over to talk quietly with her for a bit, and annoyingly used a privacy spell so I couldn’t tell what they were saying. 

It said a lot about Flick’s state that she wasn’t even trying very hard to listen in. 

The professor walked over, “So the good news is there are no signs of intrusion. You don’t need to worry that anything else is messing around in your head. I would like you to talk to one of our therapists, we were going to ask you to talk to him even before you mentioned Theia, you’ve been through a very traumatic moment.” 

I couldn’t help but giggle at her certainty that I wasn’t real. _You should talk to them, it would make sense and … you need to talk to somebody other than just me._

Felicity grumbled a bit more, but nodded, “Okay Professor … heh, I seem to spend most of my time around you having nervous breakdowns.” 

She gave a sad smile, “I would be more worried if you weren’t reacting to what has been happening. I will try to ensure my classes are less prone to dropping major trauma on you.” 

That got a nod from us, “Yeah, I’m liking the idea of less excitement.” 

“Very well, if you feel up to moving I’ll introduce you to Klassin Roe. You can trust his discretion fully.” 

_Translation, he’s one of the Headmistress's people. Sadly he might also be one of my people, so don’t trust him too far. Even assuming she knows about us existing they just proved they don’t have a reliable way to find us._

“We’ll see.” was Felicity's muttered comment, and I wasn’t sure if that was for me or the Professor. 

* * *

**Shiori**

“So you get a few Naturals though here?” I had waited till we were walking to the next place and quietly asked Sands when everyone else seemed distracted by the admitally amazing view. 

She nodded, “Yeah, I mean you don’t see a lot of them. I’m pretty sure Flick is the only one in our year.” 

I gave her a nod back and let her get into a chat with another member of the group. Scout seemed to be giving me a look, but then gave me a small smile and answered a question for somebody else … by pointing out where to find the answer in the booklet rather than talking. 

Okay so Naturals are a thing … I could claim that if something comes up, ran into some random person that got hurt and … dammit. I need to keep it together, for Columbus at least. 

People had started to quiet down by the time we arrived at the dorms. They were four stories high, and shaped long rather than tall, with the end opposite us pointed toward the beach in the distance. They were placed parallel to one another, with a wide courtyard between them that had several benches and a fountain in the middle, and there was a glass-enclosed bridge connecting the top floor of each. I also saw a couple more gargoyles perched at the top of the buildings. In front of the doors we were standing at, there was a gold statue of a knight holding a sword at the ready. 

“This is the boy’s dorm,” Sands informed us. “You can tell because of the statue. See, look over there.” We looked the way she was indicating, and found a gold statue of a woman holding a bow and arrow standing beside the door of the opposite building. Then she gestured towards the door, “If any of the girls want to try and get in?” 

Harper bounced forwards, “Sure.” 

The moment she got near the door the statue suddenly moved, grabbing her by the wrist. She didn’t seem to be in any pain, just startled like the rest of us. The status was looking at her now, after a few moments it let go again, and watched her as she backed off. 

Fast, but not Felicity fast, not vampire fast. Was I like a natural? Would I get that fast someday? Would I need to drink blood? What kind of monster was I going to turn into? 

Harper didn’t seem too thrown by, “That was exciting.” 

Sands smirked, “That is the most mild security system you’ll run across at the school, and honestly a bit funny to watch in action. When we show you the Pathmaker later don’t mess around with the ward line. It won’t kill you but you’ll wish it had, and even more so when security gets through with yelling at you.” She pointed up at the building, “Four stories, four years. We’ll all be on level one this year and then move up, fourth floor is co-ed and linked by the bridges you can see with proper apartments rather than just rooms. Once you’re over 18 you can go into the other gender dorms, and partners can room together if they make a special request.” 

Malcolm blinked, “Wait, they are okay with that?” 

Sands shrugged, “Once you’re over 18, and use protection, which around here tends to be some pretty reliable spells. There is a bit about that on,” she paused and Scout leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Page 8. I’m told that we don’t have a lot of hangups about that compared to Bystander society.” That boy that made the stupid comment in the lighthouse looked like he was about to say something which Sands cut off with, “Not a lot of hangups doesn’t mean we don’t have standards.” 

Great, I find a place where my sexuality isn’t going to be a problem, and can’t risk going near anyone because I’m a monster. 

Columbus raised his hand, “Okay, so I got a question. This is a tropical island, why does it feel like a nice warm day at most, and why aren’t we all sweating our asses off?” 

The Native American girl spoke up, “I’m guessing magic? Oh, I’m Aylen, Aylen Tamaya.” 

Sands nodded, “There is an environmental dome over the entire grounds, it’s why the school grounds are a big circle. It’s also the reason we’re not being deafened by that jungle out there, which is a real literal jungle, including some Stranger animals. Don’t go out without an escort until you’re better at protecting yourselves.” 

It really helped bring home what kind of place we were in when she was just blithely saying ‘when’ we can wander into a Stranger inhabited jungle and be more dangerous than anything out there. 

“It’s also the first line of the security, keeps track of people heading in and out, stops anything bad from getting it. This place is as safe as they can make it while still teaching us what we need to know, and that’s part of it. It might seem like a pain in the ass but it’s important. Of course Scout and I grew up with stuff like this so. The other useful thing it does is adjust the temperature to keep you comfortable. I could wear a tee-shirt and shorts while Scout wore a snowsuit and we’d be comfortable even right next to each other. 

The Edge thing worked on me, I got the vision, that probably means I got the powers right? Is it going to protect me from being a monster, or just make me a more powerful one? 

While I’d been distracted Aylen had asked if it was hot outside the dome which Sands had confirmed. “Hell yeah, It’s like a ninety degrees out there by the beach today. Step outside the shield and you’ll see how hot it can get here during the day. I think that’s part of why they make us wear these uniforms, to make us not want to go down there while we’re in class.” 

She continued, “Anyway, you should go and find your dorms, look for the door with your name next to it. You’ll typically be paired up with somebody who grew up in the knowledge who can explain all the odder stuff, like the culture, but it’s really easy for us to forget just how different this place really is from outside. Your stuff should be on the bed, tell me if anything is missing but I haven’t heard of that happening, ever.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out what looked like a big ruby-coloured cast-iron key. “There will be one of these next to your name, have it with you and your door unlocks when you get close enough, no need to actually use it on the door.” 

“Right” Sands waved towards the door, “Girls with me, everyone meet up at the fountain in … ten minutes should be plenty. If you run into your roommate be nice, you’ll be with them for a while.” 

Everyone agreed and Sands led us into the other building, this time I we didn’t have to dodge the statue, and the inside was really nice without crazy expensiveness the main building had been like when I was shown through it. Dark hardwood floor and walls, stairs to the right of the main entrance leading up while an open doorway to the left lead into the hallway proper. Doors lined both sides of the hall, with the little name-plates beside each door and envelopes attached to them for the keys. Between the doors were wall-mounted lamps and several paintings of various mythological creatures and warriors. 

I found my room near the far end of the hall which had a window that looked down over the grounds that lead to the beach. Below the plaque with Shiori Porter on it was one reading Vanessa Moon. 

“Huh. I didn’t think they put Bystander-Kin together.” Vanessa had come up next to me while I was looking at it. She gave me a shy smile, “I guess we’re roommates then.” 

She had a really nice smile, no, not the time. I handed her her envelope and got my own key out. While she was getting her key I tried the door, which unsurprisingly opened for me with no issues. 

The room was really nice. It was fairly large, about twice the size of my bedroom back home and the floor was a pretty white carpet that felt soft under my feet. There were two queen-sized beds on the opposite side of the room, their headboards each resting on either side of a large window. 

To the other side of each bed there was a small dresser with a pair of drawers with a lamp and one of those old-fashioned wind-up alarm clocks sitting on top. On the left and right sides of the room there were closets. On this side of the room on opposite sides of the doorway I was standing in, there were a pair of desks with comfortable swivel chairs and actual computers that almost looked out of place compared to everything else I had seen so far. 

I could see my bags on one bed and what I assumed were Vanessa’s on the other. A quick check confirmed everything was there. At least I didn’t have to worry about some dark secret in my luggage, unless they had magic for that. Did they have magic for that? Keep calm. They probably don’t, if they have magic for that they would have detected _me_ by now, let alone my stuff. 

“So, I don’t think I introduced myself properly before. Vanessa Moon, I’ve been living here for a few weeks but that was just a temporary place, this room is nicer.” 

“Hi, Shiori Porter … “ Shit, what to say? “So, foster family?” No, not that. 

She gave a small shrug, “They weren't bad we just … it was never going to be permanent. Um … “ I knew that look, that was the ‘your brother doesn’t look anything like you look but I have no idea how to ask without sounding like a dick’ look. I was very familiar with that look. 

“Columbus and I are adopted, but mom and dad are great. I … never knew my biological parents.” I had always been curious about them, and now I really wished I hadn’t found out. 

She nodded, apparently no better at small talk than I was right now. Normally I was better but yeah. “Ah, we should probably get back out there.” 

Vanessa nodded firmly at that as I gave us an out from trying to force this conversation to keep going. 

Maybe she wouldn’t be too bad as a roommate, less talking means less risk of something coming up, right? I could only hope she wouldn't notice anything. 

* * *

**Theia**

“And since then she’s always been … there I suppose.” 

I hadn’t been paying much attention as Felicity explained the backstory behind when I started talking to her. Well, the ‘official’ backstory at any rate. I remembered Klassin Roe from my last time here, Gaia had wanted me to talk to him but I’d been avoiding that. Too many secrets … if I’d known the truth about her links to the revolution, and by extension his, I might have risked it. Though there was always the danger he wasn’t his own person. 

He hadn’t changed his appearance any, still looked vaguely like the Fonz from Happy Days, or at least the same kind of 50’s era greaser gangs. His black hair was always slicked back, he had those high cheekbones, and he actually wore a dark leather jacket along with jeans and a gray tee shirt.. And there might be somebody like me hidden inside him, looking out at us through his eyes even now. 

He was very good at a calm and relaxing tone though. “So you’ve never seen her?” 

We nodded, “Not directly, she isn’t like somebody I see walking around, she’s always just a voice … I know what she looks like because she’s drawn herself for me. I … I get this is all in my head, but if I try to do art myself it’s never as good as when I ask her to draw it.” She looked down at a new sketch I was roughing out for her, “She was always so sure that mom didn’t just leave … took her years to convince me … “ she took a deep breath and reached up to wipe away some tears, “She always seemed to know. Used to tell me stories sometimes, fantastic ones but … well, I think I saw some of that stuff after I became a Natural. 

“Some of the sketches she did … I mean I did via her … I don’t know the right terms. Anyway, some of the stuff she’s done in the past looks like some things I’ve seen since.” 

_Come on Klassin, take the bait. You’ve read the literature on this kind of thing._

He blinked at that, “I would like to see some of those sketches if possible. Sometimes people can see past the Bystander Effect at least part way … and sometimes that can show up in weird ways as your mind tries to protect itself. Such as filtering it though a friend.” He gave us a look, “You said you used to talk to Theia out loud … is it possible I could talk to her myself?” 

We blinked and Felicity said, “I guess … she doesn’t talk out loud often, it used to bother Dad … and, well, I had enough of a rep for being crazy already. If you want to though, I can try.” 

_Oh this should be interesting._


	11. Infiltration 2.04

[Monday, September 4, 2017] 

**Shori**

“And this is what they call the Pathmaker,” Sands announced. She held a hand up to stop us a few feet away from the entrance of the place, then pivoted around to face us. “Anyone wanna guess what that means?” 

I’d been through this building but this was the first time I’d had a chance to get a good look from the outside. It was still weird looking and from here we could hear a loud, continual humming. 

Mary was the first to reply, “Does it make those portals like the ones that brought us here?” 

“Yup!” Sands chirped, head bobbing. “Plus it does some other stuff that uhh, I don’t really know about. Trust me, Scout and me, we’ve tried for years to get someone to tell us about it, but they won’t.” 

Koran was next, "And this was where you said the security was not kidding around?" 

Scout nodded rapidly and Sands winced, "Oh yeah." She pointed, "See that line, that's the ward line, a magic circle. Yes really. The humming you can hear is a warning, it gets louder as you get closer so you've got no excuse for missing it. Cross the line and you’ll get really sick. Like, face on the ground, expelling everything you’ve eaten for the past two days out both ends. Headache, nausea, dizziness, the works. I’ve seen it happen. It’s really awful. Plus it sets off an alarm, everything closes down, it’s horrible. You don’t want it to happen. Just stay away from the line. It’s bad news.” 

There seemed to be a bit of doubt about the ‘magic circle’ thing, but nobody was pushing the issue, though Koran especially was studying it as if she could work something out about it. 

Aylen spoke up, “So, if Naturals can happen without the Edge, and this place has only been around for a bit, does this mean there are other groups of Heretics out there?” 

Sands nodded, “There are a good number, almost all of them are made up of naturals like Flick, either just by finding people that survived or various ways to try and force the issue that range from dangerous to really dangerous.” 

Vanessa asked, “And that ‘almost’?” 

The twins shared a look for a moment and Scout shrugged befores Sands replied. “Eden’s Garden, they, well there is a long story behind it but they are a breakaway group from Crossroads and it wasn’t a clean break. Among other things it was somewhat responsible for the American Revolution, we were on the American side, the Garden was on the English side. They have their own version of the Edge that was made using artifacts stolen from us.” 

Travis was the first to say something, “Wait, you mean the American Revolution was because Crossroads had a fight with itself?” 

She nodded, “One of the courses you’ll do is in how Bystander historical events were caused by things from our world. Our relationship with Eden’s Garden isn’t good, a lot of the people from back then are still around and have long memories.” 

Travis seemed to have become the spokesman for us at this point, “What can you tell us about them?” 

Sands waggled a hand, “There isn’t much hard information here, when I say it’s a deep grudge I mean really deep, so it’s a lot of rumours. Everything from them actively working with Strangers or doing Heretic Stranger hybrid experiments on the bad side -” 

Wait. What? 

“ … through basically like Crossroads, just a lot more intense about it on the good end. It can be a bit of a cold war at times, from talking to people that have talked to them they think we don’t go nearly as hard as we should. 

“For one thing they start with people a lot earlier than we do. So if you run into a Garden Heretic your age, in as much as you can trust that around here, they have been training as a Heretic a lot longer than you will have been.” Sands smirked, “Though we train better … us losing a student in a year is bad news, they apparently have a lot of fatal training accidents.” 

A new voice spoke up, “So what is your view on it?” 

People looked over at the new arrival and a bunch of us kept looking because wow. Another first year I was guessing, and must be Heretic-born because she had the uniform on … whoever she was though she was unreasonably good looking. She gave several of us especially the boys a flat look that caused me to look anywhere else. 

A shrug from Sands, “They are Heretics and they fight Strangers. To use another personal story, when our mother was a kid she was attacked by a Stranger, and was saved by an Eden’s Garden Heretic. Haiden just stepped in and saved her because she needed it, and even warned Crossroad about it so they could make sure she’d be safe if similar Strangers came after her again.” 

We thought on that, Travis asking, “Are they likely to fight us if we run into them?” 

“Um, it depends on the person. For some people on each side the other side is almost as bad as Strangers. For others it’s just a different faction and the important bit is that we fight the Strangers, so it really depends. Be polite, stay on your guard but don’t start a fight if you don’t need to. At the end of the day we’re all Heretics, if a fellow Heretic is in trouble you help them, Crossroads, Garden, or other. Keep that rule and you can’t go far wrong, we’re here to save people, and that includes each other.” 

She looked around, “So, who wants lunch?” 

Koren held up a hand, “Far be it from me to keep us from lunch, but there is an elephant in the room so I may as well ask. Who’s Fossor?” 

Almost everyone went quiet though I saw the new arrival’s head snap around to look at Koren, “What?” 

Our guides looked at each other, and Sands gave a pained expression, “Yeah … he’s. He’s the Stranger that makes other Strangers look safe to be around, a super-powerful necromancer that both Crossroads and the Garden have put serious effort into killing, and failed to make him die. Word is that if he shows up somewhere you run … I don’t just mean students like us, veteran Heretics should pull back and call for backup if he shows up.” 

She paused as Scout whispered in her ear, “Rumour has it that Professor Dare has managed to survive fighting him more than once, so that’s pretty badass.” 

Vanessa blinked, “He named himself after ancient roman gravediggers?” 

The new girl replied, “Odds are they were named after him, he’s old and very powerful. Why are we talking about one of the worst creatures on the planet?” 

Koren helpfully answered, “One of the other girls in our class saw him in her vision, apparently he kidnapped her mother.” 

There was a pause as the other girl was looking over our group, then her head snapped around to Sands, “Where is Chambers?” 

Sands winced, “I was going to find you later to tell you Avalon, it was Flick’s mother that got taken. She’s … she didn’t take it well. I assume she’s still in medical.” 

There was a longer pause, then Avalon gave her a curt nod, turned, and walked off toward the main building. 

Sands blinked at the sudden departure, then looked back at us, “All I know is that she's been training with Flick, apparently Avalon is the only one in our year that can keep up with her in sparring, which means … yeah, don’t piss her off.” She was looking at that annoying boy in particular as she said that. “Today’s probably going to be a bit weirder than normal because of the Fossor thing … it’s a name that gets people’s attention. Anytime he’s up to something it tends to result in a lot of dead bodies. Stopping people like him is a large part of why this place exists.” 

Monsters, stopping monsters. Maybe monsters like me. 

“Okay, we’ve got lunch now, and then a few hours to call home or look around yourself before we meet up outside the cafeteria at the dorms. If anyone has any questions we’ll be at the seating area outside, and if you ever just need to talk to somebody about things we’re available. We’re not trained, but we know how to listen, and know who to point you to if needed. The people here really do care about the students, and they know we’re under a lot of stress, so help is available.” 

Scout quietly spoke, “I’m available to talk to as well … just don’t expect me to say much back. She does the talking mostly,” nodding towards her sister. 

Sands snickered, “I do the talking, she does the thinking, it works.” 

If I was going to talk to either of them about things it would be Scout … she was a lot less threatening. Not that I really wanted to talk to anyone about this … well, I did but I was pretty sure it would be a really bad idea. 

Sands started walking back towards the dorms, “Anyway, lunchtime.” 

* * *

**Theia**

I was right, this was interesting. I didn’t often get a chance to talk to people myself. To give him credit Klassin was taking the idea of talking to me though Felicity even better than dad did initially. Even when he thought I was just Felicity acting out. 

“No, I don’t know how we became a Natural, when she’s asleep so am I. Being able to see the world for what it is doesn't help if our eyes are closed.” 

He nodded, “I was hoping you might have picked something up.” 

I shrugged with our body, “I’m as confused as Felicity is, I don’t have a lot more experience with the larger world than she does. Laramie Falls is very quiet in both worlds.” 

“If I can ask Theia, what’s the earliest you remember?” 

_Is this as weird for you as it is for me? I’m not used to having people just ‘go with the flow’ like this with me._

_I like it, you deserve to have people take you seriously._ Well, I guess he’d found a way to unknowingly score points with Felicity. 

“I’m not sure, it’s fuzzy … I remember Miranda but her leaving did seem to be the catalyst for me to become … me I suppose.” 

“You sound older than Flick.” 

Another shrug, “I feel like I’m older, though I believe we’ve just established I’m no more than five years old … hmmm. Felicity, do you remember the event with the dentist?” 

She took over, “The mass murder? Yeah, until today that was one of the most horrible things to happen near me … “ 

A Klassin’s enquiring look I explained, “Not long after Miranda left there was a mass murder at the dentist in town, almost ten people horrifically killed. Felicity was at the dentist the day it happened, though we’ve always supposed before the event. There was a replacement dentist … he felt, wrong. Not as wrong as the nurse did but there was something very very wrong there … it was the first time I think I recall seeing, or feeling, something that Felicity didn’t. We … made an excuse to avoid the dentist that day.” 

Felicity filled in, “I got sick … I think Theia helped there, sick enough that I couldn’t stay there.” 

Klassin noted, “That event is in records as an attack by an unknown Stranger.” 

Felicity gave him a challenging look, “A Nocen you mean?” Ignoring the way I had suddenly flipped over the current page and was sketching something different. 

He raised an eyebrow at what his patient's hands were doing but nodded, “Yes, a Nocen. But we never managed to work out what it was, they covered their tracks well despite the town being monitored.” 

My sister let some anger show, “Not monitored well enough.” 

He slowly nodded, “Not well enough, no. Ah, Theia? Is that you drawing?” 

I nodded, “Yes, I’m testing something … I have a good visual memory … “ I held up the sketch pad, it was rushed but still fairly clearly showed a face on top of a dentist’s outfit, “That was the replacement dentist that day. At least as well as I remember, he stuck in my mind.” 

I felt Felicity swallow, “That’s him isn’t it. That was Fossor.” 

Klassin slowly nodded, “It’s a close resemblance.” The picture wasn’t entirely accurate, I’d made it look a bit less like he really had, ‘Theia’ wasn’t supposed to have perfect memory anymore than Felicity did. 

Felicity shuddered, and I could tell it wasn’t at all faked, “He said he’d never harm me … that didn’t mean he couldn't contact me.” 

“Just take your time. The level of security in your town did go up after … but, he’s been doing what he does for a very long time.” 

I had gone back to my other sketch which I was taking much more care with, “Felicity is of the opinion that people could have done better … whenever I started ‘being’ it was after Fossor’s first visit, I never got the chance to know Felicity’s mother, I think I would have liked to.” I looked up with our head, “Of course I probably wouldn’t exist in that situation, so it’s interesting how things work out.” 

“You seem very comfortable with being … “ 

We shrugged, “A figment of Felicity’s mind?” 

“I was going to go with mental construct. It seems more polite.” 

We looked up at the ceiling for a moment, “God forbid we be rude to the long-running delusion.” 

Felicity commented, “I like somebody being polite about it. It’s better than the alternative.” 

He nodded, “You’ve had issues over this in the past?” 

Her expression was sour, “I already had problems with people over Randi, when it got around they I talked to myself … well.” She sighed, “I thought I was past that bit and then … “ 

“It’s not uncommon to fall back on old habits or reflexes after a massive shock Flick. She’s been a source of comfort to you for a long time, of course you talk to a friend when you’re stressed.” 

There was a long pause before Felicity asked, “So what happens now? Am I too crazy to let near other students?” 

He snorted a little, “You would be amazed what counts as ‘too crazy to let around the students’. Besides you seem perfectly stable, and so does Theia for that matter.” 

_He doesn’t know you very well does he._

_No, he really doesn’t. _It was good to hear her starting to snark at me again. 

He seemed to pick up we were having an internal chat, but we weren’t making much effort to disguise it. He thought for a bit before saying, “I would like to keep having regular meetings with you, and Theia. There is no avoiding that you’ve just been through a massive shock, and even without that I wanted to talk with you anyway after the vampire attack.” 

We shuddered a bit, “It shouldn’t be that easy to kill somebody … “ she looked down at our hand, “Just one touch and that was it.” 

His voice was calm, “That’s a good attitude to have, try not to lose too much of it. How do you feel about it Theia?” 

I thought about that and decided to go with honesty, “I really wasn’t bothered by it, they were a threat and we didn’t have another option.” I shrugged our shoulders, “I don’t care about a lot of people Mr Roe, but those I do care about I’m very protective of. A pair of rapists are not part of the group of people I care about.” 

“And that they were vampires didn’t come into it?” 

Another shrug from us, “If they hadn’t been vampires we could have taken them out without killing them and left them for the police … as vampires they were too fast to avoid, too strong to hold back against, and no jail could hold them. We didn’t know about Crossroads and that would have been a death sentence anyway.” I sighed, “I wish Felicity hadn’t had to do it of course. As for them being vampires being a reason to kill them? I’m a figment of Felicity's mind, I’m in no position to throw stones.” 

That drew a chuckle, “I suppose that’s true, though I think you understate your realness.” 

If there was one thing that mother had taught me it was how not to show fear even when surprised. Other emotions I wasn’t very good at covering up, but fear, oh she’d inoculated me against that very well. 

He continued, “You seem to have a somewhat independent existence, your own opinions on things, your own viewpoints, and Flick certainly sees you as real.” 

That got a raised eyebrow out of me, “I’m not sure if you should be encouraging me to hang around, but it’s appreciated. Myself I tend to assume I’m … aspects of Felicity she doesn't like to admit to.” 

_I’m always going to need you Theia, always. Now more than ever._

_I’ll never abandon you, not while we both live._

_Now who’s making promises they might not be able to keep?_

This at least was old territory and it was easy for Felicity to pull up a grumble, “I do _not_ have a secret hidden girly side wanting out.” 

That got a blink, “Pardon me?” 

I took over, “Felicity and I have very different viewpoints on fashion, among other things … for my part I think she’d look good in a dress, she has … different viewpoints.” 

“I … see.” 

He shook his head a bit, “Very well. I think we’re mostly done here but there is one other thing I should tell you before you leave.” 

“It’s about your friend Miranda.” 

* * *

**Shiori**

That man from the lighthouse met us at the entrance to the cafeteria. “Professor Dare is still dealing with things but I can assure you that Miss Chambers is recovering and will be joining you soon. My name is Peterson Neil and I’m the head of Student Affairs.” He had the feel of somebody working through a memorized speech. “The students in the first year are formed up into six person teams, three pairs of roommates. You'll go to class together and have special projects and other training exercises to be done as a group." 

Huh, I guess that meant I was on the same team as Vanessa, that didn't seem too bad. 

"Each team will also have a second year student that will act as your mentor, they will also handle introducing you to other aspects of our society, though I expect you've had some of that already." He gave a slightly annoyed look at the booklets some of us still had visible. "If you will follow me and please keep quiet. You'll be brought up to the front table until being assigned to your teams." 

He lead us into a long corridor that ran the length of the building cutting it into two halves. On the right side were the common areas, games, hangouts, things like that while the left side was mostly the cafeteria with the kitchen down the end. 

Oh god, I was about to be in front of the entire school, I was about to be in front of the headmistress, what if somebody noticed? 

I managed to keep things under control as he led us into the back of the cafeteria which mostly had circular tables for small groups and some longer tables going from one side of the room to the other at the front. He led us all the way down to the front and got us to sit down at one of the long tables before heading up to join the other staff right at the front of the room. I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking of Hogwarts, though no sign of a talking hat so far. 

Yeah, mind-reading hat. That would have been just perfect right now. 

There had to be a few hundred people in here. I could recognize the headmistress from the picture, watching the room with a cool collected expression I could only envy right now. What I assumed was the rest of first year were already at the table, Sands and Scout gave us a wave while that Avalon girl just looked vaguely bored with the whole situation. Just as we were sitting down I saw Professor Dare lead Felicity in and sit her down at the end of the table. The girl was still looking fairly out of it and running her hands over her face before looking around and giving the twins a small wave back. 

Once we'd sat down the Headmistress stood up. I jumped a bit when she spoke because it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, magic I assumed. 

“Thank you, Mr Neil.” The tall, red-haired woman looked out over the crowd. She held the stoic look for a brief moment, then smiled broadly and even with all the stress I found myself smiling back. For a moment I thought everything was going to be okay, then my mind caught with itself. “My name is Headmistress Sinclaire. And welcome, all of you, to Crossroads Academy. Some of you are joining us for the first time, while others we have been privileged to know before now. All of you, in every grade, are very welcome here. We are pleased to have you. 

“Now, I know everyone is very hungry. And Chef Escalan has truly outdone himself this time. So let’s get through this quickly, shall we? First, to divide our first years into their teams.” Looking up toward the back, she lifted a hand. “New mentors, please stand up.” Throughout that collection of circular tables, about fifteen or sixteen slightly older students stood up. Most looked confident, though a few were clearly nervous. 

Once they had stood, the headmistress nodded. “Let’s do this as easily as possible, shall we? Start on this end, Mister Travers.” She indicated one of the standing students. “Read off the names on your list, would you please?” To us, she explained, “When you hear your name, go and join your team mentor.” 

The boy started to speak, but it was a mumble and no one could hear him. Still smiling, the headmistress touched something inside her jacket pocket. When the boy spoke again, his voice spread through the room the same way hers had. “Uhh, Dastin, Roy and Scofield, Preston?” Two boys that I didn’t know went that way, soon followed by four other students to make a team of six. 

The teams were slowly called up and it seemed to take forever before we came up. 

The headmistress called out “Deveron Adams?” Huh, that was the guy that had run out on us, I really felt sorry for whoever had him, though he really had the tall, dark, and handsome thing going on. His black hair was styled into a crew cut, and it looked like there was a vague hint of Asian genes in his otherwise Caucasian features. The tie and lapels of his school uniform were red. 

“Ahh, let’s see who the talent is this year.” Deveron glanced at the paper in his hand. Unlike the others, he read all the names off at once without waiting. "Shiori Porter, Vanessa Moon, Felicity Chambers, Avalon Sinclaire, Sandoval Mason, and Sarah Mason. Let’s go, chop chop, people. Some of us want to eat sometime today.” 

Oh great, I got the lazy mentor and I was in the same group as the girl who not only already had superpowers but had used them to kill vampires. 

Fuck my life. 


	12. Infiltration 2.05

[Monday, September 4, 2017] 

**Flick**

When I got to our table Deveron was already lounging with his feet up on the opposite chair. Apparently I had gotten past grieving and detached and worked my way up to angry, though I fully expected I was going to cycle through this a few more times. 

I made a point of picking the chair he was putting his feet up on, shoving them out of the way so I could sit down. I didn't know who he was, or who he was working for, I just knew he'd been spying on me for someone and given the way he was acting that made him a fair target right now. 

That I was thinking that wasn't a good sign. 

_Theia, could you hold me back if I try to go overboard?_

_Felicity, if you're asking me to provide restraint, things are probably going to already be on fire._

Yeah, that was my sister. Her definition of 'acceptable force' was 'of course I was holding back, nobody died'. 

The rest of the group joined us, Sands taking the seat to my right and Sarah inevitability sitting beside her, Vanessa sitting on the other side of me with Shiori next to her, who was looking distinctly nervous about something. I guess having me freak out earlier wouldn't have been good for everyone's mood, and if Shiori had had a bad vision ... 

I wondered if Sarah and Sands got to use their booklets. 

Avalon took the last chair, giving me a careful look. She must have heard then ... wait, I got called out with Avalon. She was my roommate? Huh, I guess that made sense given how much sparring we did together. 

Linking his arms behind his head, Deveron smirked at me. “Something ruffle your feathers, birdie?” 

I gave him my best Tabbris look, quietly saying "Given you skipped out on the tour, you're not impressing me with your mentor credentials." 

"Meh.” He shrugged, clearly not caring. “Sorry, guess I had something better to do. Didn’t my substitutes do a good job?” The boy glanced toward the twins. “I left you two of them and everything, just to make up for missing me.” 

"Well, at least you did something right there. If I thought you did it deliberately I might have been impressed." 

Yeah, I was in a mood alright. Also poking at him was a legit way to try and find out what was up ... that was my story and I was keeping it. 

_I would say tone it down, but honestly I'm enjoying this._

The next two mentors finished getting their students and the room went even quieter. 

“Wonderful,” Headmistress Sinclaire smiled broadly once more. “Now remember, these are the teams that you will have throughout the rest of this year. You will go to every class together, you will do all projects together, and you will train together. You will learn to rely on one another, just as the rest of our student teams have. Look at the people around you. These are the students who you will learn to count on to have your back, to protect and learn from each other.” 

All throughout the room, at every first-year table, there was an exchange of glances and a murmur of uncertainty. Before it could grow too loud, the headmistress continued. “But that’s for later. Right now, you’ve all waited quite long enough. Let’s eat, shall we?” 

With that, she clapped her hands twice. As soon as she did, a plastic menu appeared out of thin air, landing on the table right in front of me. Everyone else had their own menu appear, and there were gasps all around the room. 

Our table didn’t cause any gasps, everyone but Shiori was familiar with it and whatever was eating at Shiori wasn’t going to let something as minor as a teleporting menu pull her out of her funk. 

Vanessa leaned over to explain how it worked to her roommate, circling her choices on the menu and then ‘finished’. Huh, meatloaf, french fries, and mashed potato. Girl liked her spud. The menu vanished once she’d done so and was replaced a few moments later by the requested meal, which did make Shiori jump that time. 

Deveon smirked, “How do you know I didn’t plan it, how do you know I don’t plan everything?” 

Ah heck with it. 

I gave him my brightest smile, I must have gotten it ‘right’ because I saw the twins and Shiori blanch a bit, “I’ve had a really bad day and I’m feeling very emotionally vulnerable right now. So if I lose my shit and blow you across the room I can probably get away without being expelled for it. And hey, you’re second year, you’ve got powers, you’ll probably live.” My smile grew wider, showing teeth, “So if you’re going to say things, make them useful mentor things.” 

_I see no downsides with this plan, I’m here for it._

He gave me an unimpressed look with a raised eyebrow that I made a mental note to copy. He annoyed the hell out of me, but that was some quality eyebrow work there. 

Look, I’m here to learn. 

Shiori was giving me such a look, I made a mental note to tone things down a bit … a lot. I had a feeling if we weren’t at a table she’d be trying to hide behind Vanessa. 

Avalon looked amused in a ‘too cool for school’ kind of way. 

_And this is why I shouldn’t let you work out reasonable levels of response._

_I’ve been telling you that. Also with the day we’ve been having I really want to hit something right now and I don’t care too much who or what._

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, “Sorry, I’m … I apologize for threatening you Deveron, I shouldn’t have done it. It’s … it’s been a day.” I looked over, “Sorry for being crazy and scary Shiori.” 

I could see the twins relaxing a bit, yeah, I’d gone way too far there. 

Deveron shrugged, “Well I can’t help it if my natural style makes girls get emotional around me, it’s just my cross to bear.” 

“And now I’m back to wanting to hit you again … okay, ignoring you going forward, how did everyone else’s afternoon go?” 

There was a long pause, then Sands finally said, “Better than yours. We got to do a Q&A and use our handouts … Peterson had too much to do so he had to leave us to do the tour. It was actually pretty cool.” She looked distinctly guilty with that last bit. 

I managed a slight smile, “Then I’m glad something good came out of this.” 

Sands asked, “So you spent the day in medical?” 

I shook my head, “Only about half of it, I was also being interviewed by a ‘Runner’? And then checked for possession, and then talking to a therapist. He was pretty good … “ 

Avalon held up a hand, “Wait, go back to the checking for possession?” 

Deveron was paying some attention now. Dammit, how do I say this … 

_Tell them a story. Distance it._

“Okay, so I’m going to tell you a story, it’s about a girl living in a small town in Wyoming. Only child but has really great parents. Her father was a reporter who used to report on crimes and gangs in LA and decided that moving to the middle of nowhere would be a good idea, her mother managed to get voted in as the youngest sheriff the town had ever had, and the girl loved them both very much.” 

Even while talking I finished my order, something light because I really didn’t have much of an appetite and everyone at the table had gone very quiet to listen, “Ah, you may want to eat while you listen, this could take a bit.” 

“So, when she was seven years old, her mother came home one night in a stranger’s car, got out, quickly packed her bags, told the girl that she’d be right back, hopped back in that stranger’s car and left. The girl swore never to forgive her for that, even stopped using her full name because her mother had loved that name so she went by a shortened version. She destroyed all the toys she’d ever gotten from her mother … even the ones she’d always really loved … because she was so very very angry.” 

I had to pause for a bit to catch myself, and dammit I was crying again. “Of course she didn’t know about Strangers with a capital S, and oath spells … she didn’t know it had all been to protect the girl.” 

Even Deveron was being quiet and listening, his standard smugness absent for the moment. 

“But life goes on and she made a new friend … “ I managed another small smile, “There is a really funny story about how they met but that’s for another day. The two were really close, more so because they had a lot of trouble from other people over their friendship. You see this was small town Wyoming, white as far as the eye could see … and the girl’s best and pretty much only friend was the only black girl in the entire school.” 

Shiori winced at that one … having Columbus as her brother there was no way she hadn’t run into the same kind of ugliness I had on top of being asian herself. Almost certainly worse, I was white and still had enough friends in the local police to not have stuff from that direction. She didn’t have that on her side. 

“So they were best of friends and willing to face down anyone together, and sometimes had to. And then when the girl was thirteen she lost that friend too. The friend’s mother got a job on the other side of the country and they had to move away … they didn’t even manage to stay in contact properly, it was like the friend had just vanished. And she was already annoyed with everyone else in the school over how they had treated her friend so she was pretty much by herself. She buried herself in the school paper and among other things got the lunch-lady arrested, but that's yet another story for another time.” 

I could see Vaness mouthing, “Lunch Lady Arrested?” 

“The girl didn’t know about Heretics and a place called Eden’s Garden. She didn’t know her friend had been recruited by them to fight monsters and was largely out of contact with most people, she just knew that once again she’d been left alone.” 

That got the twins and Avalon sitting up, but they stayed quiet for the moment as I kept talking, “All this stuff, hidden from her by the Bystander Effect … or mostly hidden at least. It wasn’t long after that that she needed to go to the dentist. Yeah, I know, weird tangent. Now she didn’t end up going that day, she got to the place, even got into the waiting room and then she came down really ill, only got a glimpse of the actual dentist before she had to go home and spend the rest of the day in bed.” 

“This was lucky because later that day somebody came and murdered the dentist, all the rest of the staff, even some other customers. Ritual markings, the whole works … Crossroads investigated and put it down to a Stranger Attack. And that dentist she saw had been the very same Stranger, capital S, that had been in that car that took her mother away years before.” 

Sands finally spoke, “Wait, Fossor murdered your dentist?” 

I nodded, “It turns out that Stranger had come to town all those years ago for the girl, he had a history with her mother.“ felt frowned, “The entirely mundane, pure Bystander mother … there is a part of the story there I don’t know yet.” 

_Deep breaths Felicity._

That got some more confused looks. 

“So, the Stranger was after the girl, not that she had any value herself but him taking her would hurt the girl’s mother. The mother couldn’t let that happen, because she’s the best mother in the world, and made a terrible deal.” I had to blink away more tears, “She offered herself up, with an oath spell, to obey him as long as he didn’t hurt the girl. That didn’t stop the Stranger wanting to check in though apparently, and being the kind of Stranger they are he murdered a bunch of people in the process. Investigation afterwards showed that the murders had taken place before the girl got there, even the assistant she was talking to was already dead and being animated.” 

Deveron had a sick expression, I guess something can get past his reserve. 

I shrugged a little, “But the girl didn’t know that, she just knew she’d gotten sick and then some terrible things had happened that she’d been lucky to miss. She just knew people kept leaving her, she just wanted a friend that wouldn’t ever go away. So like some kids do she made one, dreamed one up, gave them a name, a description, a history. None of it real of course, all in her head. But the funny thing was the new friend knew things the girl didn’t, they could see things the girl couldn’t, that no Bystander could. It was that friend, before they even had a name or a voice, who had somehow felt or seen something wrong at the dentist’s and made the girl come down sick.” 

There was a really long pause after that then it was Avalon that spoke up, “Wait, you dreamed up an imaginary friend that could see though the Bystander Effect?” 

Scout blinked, “Adjacent.” 

Shiori spoke up at that point, “What’s that mean?” 

It was Vanessa that answered, “I read about it, it’s what they call somebody that isn’t a Bystander or a Heretic. Somebody that can see Strangers and magic, apparently it varies from ‘can kinda see past the Bystander effect’ to ‘just like a Heretic but without powers’. They can even use magic if they are taught it.” 

I commented, “Counting the girl, it would apparently be the third case of ‘Adjacency Via Imaginary Friend’ to show up in Crossroads records.” 

Sands slowly nodded, “So checking for possession.” 

I nodded back, “If you wanted to make sure something really was just all inside their head and not somebody tagging along to ride though Crossroad’s defences.” 

Sands snorted a bit, “It would take something very weird to manage that. The security field is pretty solid on things like that, and there are extra checks in the Pathmaker, I don’t know what they are but I know they are there.” Right after that though I saw her and Sarah exchange one of their looks. 

_Heh._

I continued, “So anyway you have this girl and her imaginary friend, and finally the girl has somebody that will never leave her, and if that makes people at the school think she’s crazy as well as everything else, because the girl wasn’t all that good about not talking to her friend out loud for the first bit, well that girl had given up caring what they thought years ago. She just went along, did her thing, brought down drug operations running out of the local theater and other normal things you do in small town America when you’re bored.” 

Of all people it was Deveron that said something, “This girl sounds like she escaped from Scooby Doo.” 

I smirked, “The girl might have taken after her father a bit more than her father was entirely happy with. Fortually her friend added some common sense to things, so instead of the girl getting a job at the theater and then somehow catching the owner out, the girl got her father involved, gathered up enough proof for a drug raid on the theater and got the entire operation shut down without the guy even knowing she was involved. Apparently the imaginary friend is her super-powered evil and cunning side and believes that the best kind of fight is the one where the other guy never even sees you coming before it’s over.” 

Avalon who was giving me a weird look did manage to snark, “That _is_ the best kind of fight. Fighting fair is for people that end up dead.” 

I nodded, “An outstanding question is just how long her friend had been ‘around’ … her friend never believed her mother had abandoned her. Always believed something had happened, and pestered the girl enough to look at her father’s investigation, because her father had never given up either. And the girl found there were things wrong, her mother’s car abandoned in the middle of nowhere, her mother’s sidearm, found recently fired … other oddities. So she began to listen to her friend and her friends stories about things the girl couldn't see.” 

“And then one day the girl could see them too. How the girl became a Natural she and her friend don’t know, but both of them agree it’s very suspicious and ‘somebody is up to something’ but have no idea who, what, or why. Though they assume it’s something to do with what happened to her mother. After that she did what apparently a lot of kids with powers do and went out to try and do the superhero thing, and got into fights with weird critters.” 

“Then one day she found vampires were real, and really didn’t want to take no for an answer. And that’s how she met Professor Dare and found out about a place called Crossroads. And she met some new possible friends, and other cool people, and then got given a vision that gave her more powers but also showed what had really happened … and she got interviewed by magic police, and the thing with her friend came out and … well, you know the rest.” 

I looked around, “And you should really finish eating because everyone else is almost done.” 

That managed to stop most immediate questions, though Shiori was apparently like me in not having much of an appetite tonight. She seemed really quiet, I wasn’t sure how much of that was just her being shy, and how much was a bad vision, but her being with Vanessa probably wasn’t a bad thing. 

For her part Vanessa was the one to ask the obvious question, “What’s her name? The girl’s friend?” 

I gave what was probably the first really genuine smile I’d managed since the vision, “Theia. Her name is Theia.” 

What little I ate of the meal was up to the normal high standard of this place but I was still too distracted to really enjoy it. This meant I was looking towards the front when the Headmistress stood up, not saying anything just waiting and letting her natural force of personality do the work. It didn't take long before everyone had gone quiet and was paying attention. I really did have to admire the approach, she just expected everyone to give her their attention and they did. 

_Mother can do that when she bothers too, she's a lot more arrogant about it though._

“Another wonderful meal provided by our dear Chef Escalan,” She announced with a graceful smile and not towards the chef in question. This was the first time I'd seen him, a squat, portly man in a red and white striped apron with stray bits of straw-yellow hair stuck out from under his flattened chef’s hat. He seemed distinctly unhappy to be here, but I couldn't argue with the quality his kitchen put out. I'd had to talk Theia out of plans to try and raid his recipe book more than once already. 

Ignoring his ugly scowl with casual ease she pressed on, “I know that he enjoys feeding you students almost as much as you enjoy his concoctions. But alas, we must press on if we are going to meet our deadline for the evening.” Clearing her throat then, she clarified, “Not a literal dead line, mind you. The team that was sent to clean up the last of those Thanatosis Marks from last year has assured us that the top floor of the academics building is now perfectly safe.” 

_There were Thanatosis Marks here? Dammit, if I'd known I would have taken a look, I'm always interested in a new form of trap._

_Remember what dad said about traps._

_I know, check with you or him before I set up anything that can injure or kill people._

I nodded a little to myself. Theia was of the school of thought that killing the first person to touch one of her ward-lines _was_ the warning shot for anyone following them. 

The headmistress went through a bunch of the other rules, some of which I already knew. No going into the beach or the jungle while you were supposed to be in class, enforced by the environmental seal reporting on you, no fighting between classes, no food in the classroom other than drinks, and similar things. The Pathmaker was off-limits of course, enforced by the wards, and there was a curfew at elven on school nights. And of course no telling Bystanders about the truth. 

Theia had already checked and the environmental seal would only pick us up if we wanted it to. She was pretty sure she could get a group though if we wanted as well, which just helped to remind me how much I couldn't trust this security of the school. 

Finally, the headmistress smiled. “But enough of our rules. I assure you, we spend less time obsessing upon such things than some would assume given their placement at the start of each semester. For now, it is my pleasure to introduce four new faculty members this year. Professor Inisclic will be taking over for the unfortunately deceased Professor Memon in the general history courses.” She indicated a thin man in a tweed suit that seemed to be paying more attention to his empty plate than the students. 

“Next,” the woman continued, “we have Professor Armstrong, who will be heading up our languages department for the time being, and Professor Carfried, who is filling in for poor Professor Tangle while she recovers from her recent ordeal.” In turn, an older woman with a severe overbite, and a jolly looking younger guy in his twenties that looked too young to be a teacher both stood. 

_Is that normal for this place?_

_I'm not sure, I think it's worse than normal but not outstandingly so._

"Finally we have Professor Nevada who will be taking over from Professor Pericles. He is sadly leaving us to move on to bigger and greater things." She nodded to the elderly figure of Professor Pericles who bounced to his feet with his normal energy. 

"I can't say how much I've enjoyed teaching so many at this school, but sadly all things must come to an end. Some of you may have been aware that I've been an applicant to join the Crossroads Committee for some time now. Due to some recent events that's gotten moved up, so it is with great regret that I won't get to teach this year like I'd planned." 

That got a lot of muttering in the room and quite a bit of surprise. Even at our table the twins, Avalon, and Deveron were blinking at the news. 

He reached down and pulled somebody up next to him, a girl that I was pretty sure had to be Patient Zero for the epidemic of ditzy blonde cheerleader types in pretty much every movie ever. She honestly looked more like a student than a teacher, including a bright yellow smiley face that adorned her white shirt. Professor Pericles beamed almost as much as she was, "I'm not leaving you in the lurch though. May I introduce all of you to Nevada, one of the best students I have ever had the privilege to teach." For her part Nevada gave the room a wave before both of them sat down again. 

The headmistress gave him a smile of her own, "It won't be the same without you Zedekiah. Right, moving on, allow me to introduce your specialization instructors for this semester.” Lifting her arm, the woman indicated several of the faculty who stood briefly to be counted, including Professor Dare and Nevada. “If you have any questions regarding your chosen track, feel free to speak with one of them after we finish here, or at any other time. Their job is to ensure that you are in the correct track for your skills and interests.” 

I looked across all the teachers that were going to show me what I needed to survive this new world I found myself in. 

And I wondered just how many of them were already possessed by the enemy. 


	13. Infiltration 2.06

[Monday, September 4, 2017] 

A flurry of whispered discussion that had started up with the last announcement was cut off by the Headmistress chuckling slightly. “As I said, such questions should come when we are done. Be careful, the question you whisper to a neighbor may be one that is answered while you are so distracted.” That shut things down pretty quickly, though the whispering after Professor Pericles had been louder, I guess he was really popular. 

I could see it, I'd only known him for a bit and I quite liked him. 

“But I believe that means we have come to the end of what is relevant to our returning students. Class schedules will be delivered during breakfast in the morning, which will be provided, as always, between six am and eight am. Other than that, second years and above, if there are no questions, you are excused. Except, of course, for our team mentors.” 

Deveron, who had started to stand with three quarters of the students, sighed and dropped back into his seat. The look he shot toward me made it clear that he somehow blamed us for not being able to leave. 

I resisted the urge to say anything, but thanks to help from Theia and Tabbris I did have a very good 'really?' raised eyebrow. He just gave me a fairly infuriating smirk and shrug, though I did notice that the twins were giving him a really probing look. Avalon just seemed vaguely bored with the entire thing while Vanessa and Shiori were keeping quiet. I could see their room was going to be a constant source of noise complaints, oh yes. 

_If he's a spy from the Empire, he's the least subtle one I've seen since me ... and I'm mainly trained as an assassin, not a spy._

_I love you dearly sis, but you're not great at subtle._

_It is true._

By that point, the second, third, and fourth years had all filed out. Left with the smaller audience, Headmistress Sinclaire continued. “Ahh, yes. Our first year students. Another welcome to each of you, whether you have grown up within the Knowledge, or are Bystander-kin. I’m sure many of you have a lot of questions, but let’s see how fast we can get through this first and save those inquiries for afterward, shall we?” She waited for any objections, then continued. 

_I bet I know more about bits of this then she does._

_Shush you._

If Theia was feeling like snarking with me though I must have been feeling better to her. She’d never directly read my mind or memories without permission, but her knowing my emotional state at all times was pretty unavoidable. So if she thought it was safe to snark, that was a more reliable sign than how I was feeling. 

“Good. Now, many of you have already chosen your track for the semester either by attending early orientation last week or by sending your request forms in over the summer. For those who haven’t and do not know what we are talking about, allow me to explain. There are five types of what we call specialization tracks in this school. Those are: Development, Investigation, Security, Hunters, and Explorers. These are indicated by the color provided on your school uniform: blue, purple, white, green, and red, respectively. Those same colors may be found outside of specialization rooms, to indicate that you are in the correct location when you attend those classes.” 

I knew the twins had been aiming for the investigation track, as shown by the purple on their uniforms, and I had every plan to join them there. It's the closest thing to being a reporter they have, and that's in my blood ... right next to the alien genetics and super-powers. Avalon's uniform had the light blue of the development track, so she'd be our Q-division, while Deveron's uniform had the red trim of the explorer track, the people that get to go off-world ... more than normal at least. Well, could be worse, somebody with his attitude in the hunter track would have been a disaster. 

Headmistress Sinclaire went on. “I’ll let our track advisers explain a bit about each specialization while they introduce themselves. Afterward, a sheet will appear in front of you if you have not yet chosen a specialty. Circle the track you are most interested in beginning. This choice may be changed for one week at the beginning of each semester while you attend this school. Indeed, some careers require a certain number of semesters spent under more than one specialty track. All of this information will be available to you at any point as you continue your education here. Professor Nevada, would you mind starting us off?” 

Nevada bounced to her feet with a big smile, "So hi everyone. So you already know who I am, and starting this year I'm going to be teaching on the more mundane side mechanical engineering and science, and on the magical side I'll be doing your introduction to Strangers, what they can do, and their weaknesses. I'll also be in charge of the Development track, so teaching people how to make advanced machinery, enchanted items, and the fun things that combine the two." 

_I could make a snarky comment about her showing you what we've allowed the Heretics to learn, but honestly the Imperium picks up more than a few ideas from here._

Well, it was good to know we could occasionally outdo the Imperium in some areas. Avalon was watching Nevada intensely, but I guess she'd been expecting Pericles as her track leader and now she had somebody entirely new. 

After her was Professor Dare, who did her introduction though it looked like everyone knew her already and then explained how she ran the Investigation track, which among other things meant she was going to be my track leader. Made sense she was the one to have been monitoring me, I was certainly an investigation job with my running around being a crazy hero. They were the part of Crossroads that dealt with Bystanders the most, finding out where the monsters were, investigating attacks, and keeping Bystanders away from danger and from finding things out. 

If I had grown up to be the kind of reporter I had planned before I found the truth, I would have been exactly the kind of person that they would be having to side-track. I wondered how often dad had run into Investigators without knowing it. Among other things it sounded like I was going to have to get better at lying to people, but I needed to get better at that anyway, sadly. I'd always seen myself as somebody that found and exposed the truth, and now I was getting a life-time career that was all about hiding it. 

It's funny how things turn out. 

Professor Carfried was next up, the young looking though not as young looking as Nevada teacher that had taken over from Professor Tangle while she recovered from ill defined things. He was nervous and stuttering a bit but gave it his best try as he explained about the Explorer track. The people that got to go off-planet and head out into the larger world and poke things to see what poked back. They got there both via the Pathmaker, and the much more iffy method of going back through the same breaches Alters used to get here, never knowing if it would stay open. 

_Should I be bothered that Explorer Track wear red?_

_In all fairness they predate Star Trek by a lot ... and yes, yes you should._

Professor Katarin, who was much nicer when he wasn't making me push myself until I wanted to die, gave a brief introduction. Along with being in charge of the Hunter track, the assault troops of Crossroads, he also did gym and general self defense. I had decided that he was personally sent from some dark underworld to make me suffer, Theia was of course a huge fan and wanted to learn everything he knew about advanced murder. Unsurprisingly she'd decided on our behalf that we were going to spend at least some time in the Hunter track ... joy. 

Finally, an Asian woman who appeared to be either in her late twenties or very early thirties stood up and introduced herself as Professor Kohaku. She spoke in carefully measured tones, her voice never rising above what felt like a whisper even though we could hear her just fine. Her area was art and was in charge of security for the school, which Theia helpfully pointed out made her one of our biggest problems in the long run, as we were very much a security issue waiting to happen. She was also in charge of the Security track, white uniforms and a focus on defending from Alters, keeping places safe from infiltration and so forth. 

Against the threats I was most worried about they were functionally useless by design. 

_For the record her and Virginia are probably the best candidates for being possessed. Virginia is close to Gaia and knows about far too many secrets and Kohaku is in charge of security._

_Wonderful. I wonder if Gaia knows how to check for them._

_Even running checks is dangerous, she's a running thorn in their side, but push them too far and they will find a way to force her out ... or kill her._

And that was it. Development, Investigation, Explorers, Hunters, and Security. Once the advisers were done introducing themselves, a bit of plastic not-unlike the menu that had appeared previously popped up out of thin air in front of me. Vanessa and Shiori received their own and looked at each other and me while the twins watched them curiously and the other two ignored us totally. For my part I didn't even pause, drawing a circle around the Investigation entry. "I'm a reporter, I report things. These days what I report is apparently monsters, but that's a subset of things, right." 

I looked up at everyone else, “Don’t get me wrong, Exploration sounds fascinating and Development is where all the cool stuff is, but in my heart I’m an Investigator.” 

Deveron spoke up in a sarcastic tone, “What about the voice in your head?” 

Please, if he was going to try and annoy me that way I’d had better attacks from much better people. “Oh Theia wants to take the hunter track. She likes Professor Katarin, he’s as intense about training as she and Avalon are.” Avalon trained like it was all that stood between her and death … which to be fair it probably was. Theia thought that Avalon was the sane one and everyone else was slacking off. I got the impression Avalon would agree with that. 

The girl herself spoke up, “You should probably listen to her when it comes to how hard you should train then.” 

_Have I mentioned I like her?_

_You think she’s possibly an enemy spy._

_That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. We just might need to stab her._

Vanessa drew a circle around Exploration, “I’ve wanted to go out and see other worlds since before I knew it was possible … I don’t want to miss the chance now.” 

I couldn’t argue with that, though I had to say she seemed born for the Development track. 

Shiori was looking at her sheet for a bit before she finally made her choice, “I want to know how to fight. To stop people being hurt, so Hunter track.” 

I could respect that. 

Sands looked around, “We’re fairly investigation heavy, a developer, one and a half explorers … “ she looked at Deveron, apparently she’d been more annoyed by his comment that I had been, “Make that one and a quarter explorers, and a hunter. No security but we should be okay as a team, and besides it’s normal to shift tracks a lot.” 

Avalon looked at me, “I thought you might focus on Hunter given … “ 

I gave her question some consideration, before getting out the other sketch Theia had been working on most of the day and put it on the table. “For other people here it’s about protecting people or stopping monsters and I can respect that and any other time that would be why I was there … but right now this is why I’m here.” 

Everyone leaned over to look at the picture. Like most of Theia’s better work it hurt me to look at it. She was good at emotion, good at getting across feeling … and often tried to work her pain out by drawing some of the more intense times in her life. 

For this image it was my pain she was drawing. 

It was from the vision of course, Fossor, still looking like somebody you’d pass in the street without noticing, holding mom up against the car, gloating at her as she made her terrible offer to him. The gloating expression on his face made me want to break something but mom’s was worse, that broken look as she agreed to serve him … wait. 

I leaned in closer to look, this was the first time I’d really studied it since Theia drew it. 

_Is that accurate? Mom’s face?_

It was a measure of how important this was to me that Theia didn’t get offended by me questioning her accuracy. If she was proud of anything in the world it was her art … well, her art and Tabbris. 

_It is. You were … distraught but … I’m not good at socialisation, I’m not good at knowing what to say or how to say it. But I know how to read people, I had to. That is what I saw._

Mom wasn’t broken. Defeated yes, offering up total surrender, but not broken. There was a look in her eye, how she was standing … something in the way Theia had drawn the lines. 

Even without her powers, even up against Fossor, she hadn't entirely given up. She was still fighting in the only way she had left. I was sure Fossor knew it too, and found it funny, but I didn’t care about him, I cared about her. 

As long as she kept fighting, as long as she didn’t let him break her, I could still rescue her. Because there were things far worse than death that could happen to somebody, and Fossor was certainly one of those things. 

_Keep fighting mom, because I’m coming for you. We all are._

The others had been looking at it and wincing while I processed things. Even Deveron was being a bit _too_ disinterested looking, of course I already knew he was a spy, so that was no shock. 

I finally spoke up, “I’m going to rescue my mother, but that means going up against the most evil man in the world. I can’t fight him, not and hope to win. But maybe I can find a weakness, find enough of a hole to get mom out, find something that will let somebody else hurt him. I’m not good at exploring, I’m not good at hunting, or developing, or security … but I’m a _very_ good investigator, and if I’m up against that, then I need to play to my strengths.” 

After that everyone was very quiet and it wasn’t long till the Headmistress dismissed us and we all filed out. Thankfully I could follow everyone else to find where my room was. 

* * *

“So, what is the Crossroads Committee?” 

This was one of those ones I actually knew, and for a change had an official reason to know about it too. The twin’s handout had a page and even one-liners about each of the current committee members. Theia had real issues with Gabriel Ruthers, but couldn’t tell me why due to memory spells messing with my head. I knew he’d been the main one going after mom during the rebellion though. 

Sands of course had the answer, “The leaders of our government. A variable number of the most powerful Heretics alive, currently twelve, that get a big extra power upgrade by being members of it. I don’t know the full details for how you become a member, but it’s not just a matter of being voted on, though that’s part of it. There are trials involved and people have died to them in the past.” She looked back at the dining hall for a moment, “I knew Grandpa Zedekiah has been planning this for a while but this is … sudden.” 

I had a feeling it was because of me, though a moment later another distraction showed up in the form of Professor Nevada. 

“Hi, I need to borrow Felicity … or was it Flick?” 

“Either works, my friends call me Flick … “ I looked over at Deveron who was still just inside hearing distance as he headed to the boy’s dorm and called out, “Our mentor can call me Miss Chambers.” Then back to her, “Ah, what do you need Professor, I assume this is about the vision?” 

_He can call me a goddess._

_As far as I know you’ve never been worshiped, your namesake certainly, but not you._

_Give it time._

She smiled, “Ah, just Nevada, that goes for all of you. Professor Nevada still sounds weird. Yes, it’s about the vision. Don’t worry this won’t take long.” 

“I hope you know where I’m staying, I still haven’t seen my room yet.” 

Avalon spoke up and held out a large key, “I got your key for you Chambers, end of the ground floor corridor, on the left.” 

“Thanks.” I got the key from her, “Oh, and if I get lost in bureaucracy, avenge me.” 

That got the slightest smirk but she just nodded and headed off with the others, Sands calling out a ‘See you later’ that Sarah apparently co-signed. 

Nevada watched them walk off then started leading me towards the main building, “I think she likes you. For Avalon that’s downright friendly.” 

“I think I’m growing on her, possibly because I let her hit me on a regular basis.” 

_I think that’s the foundation of a solid relationship. Look how you met Miranda._

_That was the two of us hitting somebody else._

_That’s an even better foundation to a relationship._

That got a slight snort but no other comment and we made our way into and through the building in a comfortable silence. I’d done a lot of talking today and it was nice not to have to for a bit. 

The obvious office didn’t have a label on the door but I had a feeling one had been recently removed and inside was Professor Pericles, I guess ex-Professor now, packing items into boxes with his normal energy, though I could see him slow down when he was putting some items away with extra care, gifts from students was my guess. 

He looked up when we arrived giving Nevada a smile, “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your way soon.” then getting more somber as he looked at me, “Ah, Miss Chambers. We should talk.” 

Nevada gave him yet another smile, “I’m in no rush prof, you know where to find me.” Then she stepped out, closing the door behind her. 

He walked over, “First I want to say how sorry I am about what you just went though … we failed you and we failed her. There is a limit to what I can say because … “ 

I nodded, “Spells.” 

He nodded back, “I’ll be as clear as I can, and the one thing I haven’t started taking out of this room yet are my personal privacy wardings.” 

_Which means we can probably trust them up to a point. If he’s a Committee candidate he’ll know what he’s doing._

I pondered that, “Are you doing this because of mom?” I waved my hand at the half put away state of his office. 

He paused for a moment, “You have brought a situation to my attention involving an old threat that I felt I needed to deal with, in whatever way I can.” 

“I’ve done a lot of looking up mom, dad and I both have … did you know you share a name with the man that delivered her? On her official paperwork at least.” 

“It’s funny some coincidences you see.” He got a lot more serious suddenly, and I could see under the jovial exterior the old, cunning, and powerful person that could become a Committee candidate. “I will find her, and I will bring her back to you Felicity, I promise you that.” 

I gave him a slightly sad smile, “I’ve been told a bit about him, don’t make promises you can’t keep … but thank you.” A sudden impulse made me open up the satchel I’d been wearing around and get Theia’s latest sketch out, mom being held against the car by Fossor and held it out to him, “She hasn’t given up.” 

He didn’t try to hide the wince as he looked at the picture, but I could see his eyes narrow as he looked at how mom was drawn, spotting the same thing that I had. 

With careful hands he took the sketch off me like it was a precious and fragile painting, “She won’t. She doesn't know how. If it’s possible I’ll bring her back to you, regardless of what, or who, gets in my way.” 

They had failed her, they had failed her so much. I was still angry, but here was somebody willing to put everything on the line to try and fix it, and I could feel some of the anger finally starting to let go, so I just said, “Thank you.” 

He gave me a considering look, “I’m pretty sure you know a lot more than people think … we can keep that between us though. Gaia is somebody you can trust though … so is Nevada.” 

I wished I could, I so very much wished I could. But this was enemy territory and almost anyone could be the enemy. 

I had friends, I now had powerful people willing to help me, and most of them were certainly their own people. It was just a matter of working out who, and I really hoped he was one of them. 

_If there is anyone that it would be hard for one of us to get into ..._

“I'll remember that Proff .. ah Mr?” 

That got a small smile, “Call me Zedekiah, it’s what family calls me.” 

“I’ll remember that too. Good luck … I expect you’ll need it.” 

“A wise person makes their own luck,“ his expression grew solemn, “and I regret to say that I think you’ll need the luck more than I do.” 

He wasn’t wrong. As I was turning to leave I gave into an impulse, “Be careful who you trust, they may not be who you think they are, they might not be who _they_ think they are. Don’t trust the standard tests.” 

He gave me what was probably the most intense look I’d ever been on the receiving end of then slowly nodded but didn’t say anything as I left. 

I was walking back to my room when it finally occurred to me to ask. 

_Are you okay with me giving him your sketch?_

_I made it for you, you can do with it what you want. And besides._

_He’s family._


	14. Legacies

[6 years ago] 

“When will we see the whales mama?” 

The nine year girl was obviously excited about seeing them, going on at length about various other facts about them. For the moment it was just the two of them, Sarah and her mother, on a boat heading out into the sea around Crossroads Island. 

Once they were well clear Larissa set the controls and turned to face her daughter. "We need to talk about something serious. It's about Alyson and Tabitha, and we'll need to keep it secret like before." 

The girl's eyes went wide, "Is it safe for us to meet them?" Apparently this was more important than even whales. 

Her mother held a hand up, "Not yet, but soon with any luck. But this is going to be a really important secret so you need to keep it really quiet." 

Sarah forced herself to look more serious, "Can I tell Sands?" 

That got a smile, "Nobody else though. And don't tell her yet, I'll tell her myself after we get back. We're here to meet a friend of mommy’s." 

Sarah thought about it for a few moments, "Is it a friend of Aly and Tabs? So we need to hide her from da too?" 

Larissa’s smile got more sad, "You're such a clever girl. That's part of it but ... mommy's friend isn't human." 

It took a moment for Sarah to comprehend what she was saying. Eventually, however, the girl’s eyes went wide. “Y-your friend is a monster?” 

“Not a monster, baby,” Larissa corrected quickly. “But she is what everyone would call a Stranger. She's Tabitha's mother." 

The boat was quite for a while as the girl processed that. "Does that mean that Tabitha is a ... " she seemed to look for a term, "that she isn't human?" 

Larissa couched down in front of her daughter, "Yes. And Tabitha isn't a monster is she?" 

Sarah shook her head with almost frantic urgency, "She can't be a monster, she's Tabs." Another thought occurred. "Is ... is Alyson human?" 

"No. She isn't." 

"Oh." 

There was a long enough pause that Larissa was about to say something when Sarah spoke up again, "But I thought their mama was dead?" That people's parents could just up and die was something the girl just took as a painful fact of life. 

Larissa visibly relaxed at how well her daughter was taking it. "She's alive, but she's trapped in a bad place. She can come and visit sometimes but only for a little bit. She's been trapped there for a long time, I'm trying to help her. She helped me when I was your age, along with Haiden Holt, so I'm helping protect her daughter." 

That seemed to make sense to the girl, "Is Haiden Tabitha's Da?" 

Larrisa shook her head, "No, I just used the name ... it's complex. She managed to get Tabitha and Alyson out the place she's in but she's still trapped here. Do you want to meet her?" 

Sarah nodded, "Tabitha's Mama? Yeah." 

And unseen behind them was another figure, Sarah grown to her late teens, tears running down her face as she looked at the scene from her own past. "I love you mama." She put a hand out, not quite touching her mother's face, then took a deep breath. She was here for a reason, to see. 

In the corner of the deck, near the ladder, a soft golden light had already appeared. Scout watched closely, as did her younger self, she needed to remember this. Before long, the light resolved itself into a blonde woman, who straightened up and looked around until her gaze fell on the two of them. “Larissa,” she murmured before stepping that way. 

Looking at her now Scout could see some resemblance to the toddler she still remembered. Sarah looked at the new arrival with wide eyes, "You're Tabitha's mama?" 

The two women embraced then the new arrival turned her attention to the younger girl, her voice quiet and gentle. “Yes. And you must be Sarah. Larissa told me you helped take good care of my daughters." 

Sarah nodded firmly, "Sands did too, and Alyson." 

The blonde smiled, "I'm glad she's doing well, she's a good ... " She stopped talking abruptly, head tilted as though listening to something. A second later, the woman spun back, eyes wide. “Take Sarah and get off the boat,” she ordered. “Go, go, right n–” 

Scout winced, she knew what was coming next. She forced herself to watch though, able to remember it clearly this time even if it was still so fast. The tentacle coming over the side and picking up Tabitha’s mother and hurling her aside, then the creature covered in sea-life that followed after the tentacle, claiming to have smelt Tabitha’s mother on Larissa, that it had been waiting for the chance. 

Seeing her mother throw her towards the cabin and telling her to hide but being overwhelmed by the creature moments later. Tabitha’s mother trying to draw it away, offering herself up to distract it and calling it by its name. 

Fomorian. She needed to remember the name of the thing that took her mother. 

Watching her mother try to fight, telling Tabitha’s mother to save Sarah, and the other woman doing that. Scout could recall that from the past, the short argument Sarah had had with her before the young girl was talked into agreeing to hide, getting wrapped her in a spell to make sure she wouldn't be found. 

It was hard, seeing the monster paralyzing her mother, carrying her around as it copied her mother's voice and called out for her. Calling for Scout by the name she could barely stand to hear anymore. 

Then Tabitha's mother was there again, offering herself up to keep Sarah hidden. Apologizing to Sarah’s mother, saying she couldn't find another way to stop him. Throwing herself onto the creature and her mother and then they were gone, a sudden flash and the boat was empty. 

It had been her that had saved Scout, twice over. 

Scout crouched where they had vanished from, hand outstretched. "Thank you. I'll find her, I'll find Tabitha and Alyson, and I'll protect them." 

She was still weeping silently when the Edge Vision ended, but she remembered the name that her mother had screamed out to Tabitha's mother. 

She remembered Sariel. 

* * *

[7 years ago] 

“No Tabitha, don’t eat the dirt!” 

Sands looked over but her sister seemed to have it under control. Technically both of them were looking after Tabitha but they traded off who was dealing with her at that exact moment. 

The forest was nice, and peaceful this close to Crossroads. Mommy and Da had made sure to check the area ahead of time and were close by, just a little out of sight and probably doing some silly adults thing. Audrey and Alyson were off to one side of the clearing everyone was in, Audrey walking Aly though a throw she’d recently been taught, while Lisa was packing the remains of lunch up. 

Sands was bored. Being in the scary monster-filled forest only stayed interesting so long when your parents were careful to make sure no actual monster could get in sight or sound of you. 

Invisible to her was her older self who patted the younger version on the head, “Don’t worry, it’s about to get exciting mini-me.” Still, why here? Yes, there was about to be a stranger attack but she already remembered that. What was she supposed to see? 

Even expecting it Sands still winced at the awful wail when is sprung up, a gastly screaming from dozens of throats. 

Knowing what she did now she recognised them when they burst into sight, ugly green-furred monkey things, not much bigger than Tabitha. Daesimalo. Normally a low grade threat, the kind of thing you would send people after on a first hunt, they were much more of a problem when there were this many of them. 

At the time she remembered everything seemed to take ages, a confused mess of screaming and noise but looking at it now she could see how fast it all happened. 

Alyson had never even paused, grabbing Audrey and half-flinging her towards the others with a scream to guard them and already bringing her hands up when the first demon-monkeys came into sight. 

Sands was pretty sure the vision was slowing things down for her because she knew how fast Alyson could move when she needed to and this time things were going slowly enough for her to watch. There was no cartoon flashiness, no wasted movements. The first few creatures died before they even got clear of the trees, Alyson alternating between her hands to launch lightning bolts, each killing at least one target, sometimes several if they were close enough for the electricity to arc off. 

By this point Audrey was just getting her sword out, facing away from the attackers and trusting Alyson to deal with those while she looked for anything coming from the other direction. 

Sands, the elder, could watch this calmly, she knew nobody on her side had gotten scratched, which didn’t mean she was still on edge. She also couldn’t help but wince on behalf of the younger Sands, screaming as she backed towards the others. “Yeah, lesson for us. Boring can be good sometimes.” 

Where did Alyson learn to fight like that? That was like Heretics fought, experienced veteran Heretics, and not in a style she’d ever seen Alyson use before. The teenager was constantly moving, a spinning dance as she glided along her impromptu battle-line launching a stream of bolts into the incoming attackers, an aura of energy around her that arced off to any daesimalo unlucky enough to get close to her. 

It couldn’t have been more than a few moments before her parents arrived, her father announcing his return by the curved blade that made up part of his weapon flying out of the forest to cut through several attackers. Her mother went directly for the group gathered behind Audrey, her sword out and ready while her father focused on offense, a ripple of earth rolling out from his feet that formed up into pillars and walls to break the swarm up. 

Da bounded up onto one of the pillars and brought the other parts of his weapon up, the shortsword in one hand ready to kill anything near him while the pistol in his other hand tracked the still maneuvering blade which swooped behind the attacker. As it did he opened fire, bolts of lightning linking the pistol to the blade and tearing through daesimalo in the way, a counterpoint to the similar bolts Alyson was flinging around. 

On seeing that Alyson fell back to the rest of the group and Sands caught a quick nod between her and Larissa before her mother headed out to backup her father. 

A fight where her children were in the middle of it and three other kids. And her mother just trusted that Alyson could and would protect them. No pause, no doubt. Sure, Audrey was there too, but it was Alyson that Larissa had confirmed things with. 

Alyson took a moment to check on her sister, giving younger Sands and Sco … Sarah one of her rare smiles before taking a few steps back towards the fight. Sands the elder vaguely remembered this bit next as just being loud. 

From her current angle it was more impressive, Alyson holding her hands out and a massive arc appearing between them, building and building until it was blinding. Then she snapped her hands apart and the line flashed out towards the fight. As it went it expanded, turning into a wall of lightning and fury that swept across the ground, scorching it as it went. 

Alyson pointed towards Sand’s parents, and as the wall reached each of them it split to go around then before rejoining and racing onwards, smashing deep into the trees around the clearing before finally fading out. In its path was ash and the scorched remains of the monkeys. Larissa absently killed a couple of survivors with a power while Liam turned around to look back at Alyson mouthing “Where did that come from?”. 

For her part Alyson was visibly wobbling on her feet and managed to give Liam a thumbs up before abruptly sitting down. The first one to her was Lisa who was willing to accept Alyson’s comment she was just very tired. 

With the fighting over Sands could do the thing she’d wanted to do from the start. Her mother had left Liam to check the perimeter and was holding her two crying daughters. The third one she couldn’t see or hold but that didn’t stop the tears. “Hi Mom. I know you can’t hear this but … I miss you. Sarah does too. Da is doing his best to look after us but it’s not the same. We’re doing our best to make your proud Mommy. We haven't stopped looking for Aly or Tabs either … “ 

Sands stopped dead, and looked back at the image of Alyson cuddling Tabitha, Lisa getting her to drink some water. 

Alyson moved like nobody else she’d seen, not the speed and powers but the style. She’d never seen anyone else move quite like that … not until a girl called Felicity Chambers came to Crossroads. A girl with a younger sister called Tabitha. 

As the vision started to fade out Sands took one last longing look at her mother, but there was a spark of something else. Hope. “We haven't stopped looking … and I think we might have found them.” 

* * *

[Tuesday, 29 August, 2017] 

Sands wasn’t sure what to say, which was a novel situation. What do you say to your sister when she was just forced to relive the worst moment of her life? 

Scout had pulled her out here, but it could have just been for company rather than conversation. Da was great but sometimes Scout needed space more than she needed da doing his best to be supportive. 

It took her as a surprise when Scout spoke up. “You saw Alyson fight?” 

Sands pulled her thoughts together, “Yeah. She … she was trained, experienced. Knew exactly what she was doing and how to use her powers, and even then was still keeping to the ‘public’ ones.” She paused for a bit, “Mom trusted her to guard us, trusted her to have mom’s back. More than she trusted Audrey.” 

Scout slowly nodded, “Not Stardrinker.” 

A nod, “Yeah, no way she was a Stardrinker Natural. They don’t do what she could do, definitely not the ice-cream.” She missed that ice-cream. She missed her friend. 

There was a longer pause. “Not Natural. Not Heretic.” 

It took Sands a bit to parse that. Alyson had powers and wasn’t a Heretic, that would mean … no. No. That wasn’t possible. Alyson couldn’t be one of _them_. 

Her thoughts were interrupted as Scout spoke again, and there was a weird undertone to her sister’s voice, one she wasn’t used to. “Mom didn’t save me on the boat. There were two Strangers, one attacked us, the other who saved me. Mom took us out there to meet her, the one that saved me. The attacker, the **Fomorian,** attacked mom first, mom told her friend to save me … and she did. Hid me under a bed, put a spell over me so the thing couldn’t find me, then went back to try and save mom.” 

That wasn’t possible. That was not possible. Mom wouldn’t do that, strangers were the enemy, they were monsters. Mom would never trust a stranger, never work with a stranger, she couldn’t. She could never … trust Alyson to protect her daughters? They were monsters, all monsters? Weren’t they? 

Scout wasn’t finished. “The woman we were meeting … she was Tabitha’s mother.” 

There was a period where Sands just stopped thinking clearly. Nothing made sense anymore. Tabitha couldn’t be a Stranger. Little Tabs with the giggles and hugs and trying to chew on things she shouldn’t and … and the weird ability to just almost vanish sometimes. But mom could always find her, like mom knew what was happening when they lost track of her. 

It was too much, she opened her mouth but no words came out, she just gave her sister a helpless look in a world that had stopped making any sense. Scout wouldn’t lie to her, her sister wouldn’t like about this. But that would mean that mom had brought two Strangers into school … trusted them in her house, around her daughters … trusted them to protect her daughters because it was Alyson, and you would hurt a child around her over her dead body, or more likely yours. But Strangers were bad, Strangers were evil, that’s all they were. 

They were the bad things. Right? 

For Prosser’s sake, both Alyson and Tabitha had been through medical! Surely medical would notice a couple of Strangers. They had to be undocs, Strangers that didn’t ping Heretic sense, but even then you couldn’t get them past medical surely. 

Scout wouldn't lie about this though. Not this. Not about Alyson and Tabitha. 

She couldn’t … okay, pretend it’s just a puzzle. She was planning on going Investigation Track, so just treat it like an exercise and solve it. What do we know, what can we work out from that. 

Sands held a hand up, giving herself a long moment, trying to gather her thoughts. “If that really was Tabitha’s mother, if she’s alive. Why did we have Tabitha here? That doesn’t make sense.” 

Scout nodded, and there was still that old … fear? Oh. 

Sands and Scout were close, really close. They had just about lived in each other’s heads from when they were born and when … when _that_ had happened, she’d become Scout’s interface with the larger world. They always had each other’s back, and always would. 

Scout was scared of her, scared of how she would react. And told her anyway, because she deserved to know, because she needed to know. 

And people thought Sands was the brave one. 

Before Scout could answer Sands walked over and wrapped her sister up in a hug, “I … I don’t know how I feel about this yet but … we’re sisters. Nothing changes that. Okay.” 

She could feel Scout relax, replying with a small nod and and an even smaller “Okay.” 

After a bit Sands let go, sitting down again, “Right, lay it on me.” 

That got a tiny smile, “Mom said that Tabitha's mother was trapped, that she could only get out for a little bit at a time. Don’t know if she teleported to us under her own power or not, didn’t see mom do anything other than maybe signal her.” 

It’s an exercise. Just an exercise. What if some of your best friends turned out to be Strangers. “Tabitha could sneak off … I’m pretty sure she got out of a room with no other exit once. Could she have been teleporting to Mom? Mom always knew where she was.” 

Scout nodded, “Teleporting Undoc, looks human. Look it up. Very quietly.” She paused, seeming even more unsure for a moment, then came to a choice. “They never found mom’s body. The other stranger, after she hid me. She ran back out, apologized to mom, for what she was about to do. Grabbed both of them and all three vanished.” 

That … that wasn’t as bad as finding out about Tabitha. Still a shock though, “So she _might_ have teleported all of them away. Mom might be … “ 

Scout shivered, “Don’t want to hope … being wrong would hurt too much.” 

Sands understood that. The thought that mom might be alive out there somewhere, it hurt. They had both grieved, laid their mother to rest in spirit. This was like tearing the wound open again, that poisonous feeling of hope. And the fear, because it had been six years. If mom could have come back she would have by now, that was just a basic fact of the universe. So if she was alive, then something was keeping her away. 

Couldn’t think about that now. Move on, study the problem, investigate. 

“Do you know how they met?” 

Scout unexpectedly nodded, “When mom was shot. Garden Heretic saved her, Haiden Holt … he was working with Tabitha’s mother to save mom. That’s how they met.” 

That made sense, kinda. Garden worked with Strangers sometimes, though from what she’d heard it was more they had Strangers they kept under control. Slaves. Was it the Garden that was holding Tabitha’s mother? 

Scout added, “Tabitha and Alyson aren’t related to Haiden, she just needed a last name.” 

Sands nodded, that also made sense. There were rumours of weird human/stranger hybrid experiments at the Garden, but common belief was that there wasn’t such a thing as cross-fertility. Whatever Tabitha and Alyson were, they weren’t half human or anything like that. The idea was even more crazy than the rest of this. The next idea Sands said out loud, “They aren’t the same species … Alyson and Tabitha. Alyson has lightning and everything else … Tabitha just, maybe, had teleportation. Alyson was something different.” 

It was Scout’s turn to slowly nod. “Two species of undoc, that can pass medical tests.” 

One was unbelievable enough, but two? _When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth._ Speaking of unlikely but fitting the evidence. “In my vision, I saw Alyson fighting full out. Her and Flick move the same way, not the same style, not the same moves, but even just walking around, they move the same. And there is the Lightning Bending.” She’d taught that trick to Alyson herself. 

The two girls looked at each other, having the same thought. It was Sands that voiced it, “Alyson is where Flick’s powers come from, she’s an Alyson Natural. Whatever that is.” 

Scout nodded, “Might not know Alyson and Tabitha are strangers. Undocs.” 

Sands pondered that. Alyson is on the run, finds a family to hide her sister with. Flick always had good things to say about her father. It would be easier for Alyson to hide without Tabitha, but it’s Alyson, she wouldn’t go far. She might visit sometimes, check on her sister. Might power up the girl in the same house as her sister so they could look after Tabitha better. And then show her some moves. 

“It could be, or she could be lying. Protecting her family from … us.” She tried for a moment to think what it would mean if Scout was a stranger … an undoc, but with the risk that Crossroads would find out and come for her. What would she do to protect her sister? 

What wouldn't she do? What wouldn’t _mom_ do? 

Scout sighed, “Baby pictures.” 

It took Sands a few seconds to process that, then she nodded. Flick had shown them pictures of her family, Lincoln and Tabitha and … her younger sister looked a bit like their Tabitha, though with the age difference that didn’t mean much. Yeah, they needed to see if Flick had pictures of Tabitha when she was younger. 

The sisters looked at each other. Sands nodded, yeah, they were doing this. Treat it like an exercise maybe, but take it seriously. Find out what was behind Flick’s powers, was that their Tabitha, and where the hell was Alyson? And keep it quiet, keep Da out of the loop, keep everyone out of the loop. 

Scout managed a less fragile smile, “Investigation Track.” 

Sands nodded, it was time to investigate. 

It was time to find out what Felicity Chambers was hiding. 


	15. Reconnaissance 3.01

[Tuesday, September 5, 2017] 

_Wake up._

_Gah. What time is it?_

_I’m not sure, but Avalon is getting up so we might want to as well. Very early though. I’m assuming she’s planning on being early to the morning exercise._

I hadn’t talked to Avalon when I got back. Neither of us had really been in the mood to talk, we’d just kind of vaguely nodded to each other and I’d crashed out hard. Even with the nap I’d had earlier while they had been failing to find Theia I was still shattered. 

When I managed to get my eyes open the clock informed me it was about twenty to five in the morning, a time entirely too early to be existing … which didn’t make me any less painfully familiar with it. Stupid drill-sergeant head-angel. I sat up and looked over to see that Avalon was in the middle of getting changed into exercise clothing … 

… I might have lost track of things for a little there. Oh yeah, five AM to seven AM, general exercise. You only had to do half an hour during that time slot, but it didn’t surprise me Avalon was going to be an overachiever about it. With a mutter I saw about dragging myself out of bed, Theia, now that I had decided I really was getting up, helpfully gave me a mental ‘wake up’, some trick for poking bits of my brain that was like having several shots of espresso. 

I was standing up and trying to recall where I’d put my exercise gear in my bag when Avalon noticed me, or at least elected to pay attention, “What are you doing up this early Chambers?” 

I scrubbed my hands over my face, “Same thing you are, let me guess, you plan on using the entire two hour slot?” 

That got me a nod then she pointed towards the door, “Your uniform should be left for you out there, including the PE uniform.” 

I gave her a smile and headed over to retrieve it. As promised I found three different uniform sets with the purple trim, as well as two sets of the same workout clothes that Avalon was wearing, it didn’t take me long to get changed and she did deign to hang around long enough so I could follow her to the gym, “There a standard routine or do we make it up as we go?” 

“There is a suggested approach, you can vary it if you look like you know what you’re doing but they’ll stop you if you’re doing anything stupid.” There was a long pause, “I didn’t expect you to be up this early.” 

I went to use my standard excuse then remembered I’d told people last night so just for the novelty of it all used the truth, “Theia is a strong believer that the more you sweat the less you bleed. GIven she’s living in my brain she feels she has a vested interest in me not getting eaten by monsters. I’m not a fan of it either so … two hours, I can do two hours. It won’t be as bad as Professor Katarin’s test was.” 

_I am not wanting to have to explain things to Dad if you get yourself killed because I didn’t train you well enough, so suck it up._

There was a longer pause before Avalon asked, “Are you sure you’re up for this?” She didn’t mention last night, she didn’t have to. 

“I … look, Fossor is going to come after me regardless, so I can crawl into a hole and hide or try and get as dangerous as possible. There really isn’t any in between.” 

That got a firm nod, “Good, that’s the right attitude. I guess I’ll have to see how dangerous I can make you then.” 

Somehow I had a worse feeling of doom than I got from Professor Katarin. 

* * *

We were back in our room when I poked at another possible sore point. “So, I saw the tattoo in the shower.” 

She stiffened up but didn’t stop getting ready. A moment later she sighed, “It’s in the guidebook isn’t it.” 

The tattoo in question was on her bicep, small red apple with a dagger cleaving it in two. As best as I knew it wasn’t magical, the important thing about it was that it was something all students of a specific school got tattooed on them. 

Eden’s Garden. 

And yes, the guidebook did helpfully describe it, with a picture. The twins were nothing if not thorough about things like that. 

“Yep. You know the others are going to find out at some point, I can already predict the reaction of the twins.” 

Avalon gave me a look that was a mixture of defensive and curious. 

I gave her my best surprised look, “It’s obvious. You just volunteered to help them rewrite the Garden section of the book. I mean easy access to an ex-Garden student? There is no way they are going to let that go.” 

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, actually stopping for a moment to close her eyes. Finally she muttered, “You’re right, they will.” She gave me a considering look, “And how do you feel about it?” 

“Well the voice in my head that tells me to train and spends most of her time making sarcastic comments about … pretty much everything really, is very upset that you have been ‘holding out on us’ and wishes you to ‘bring your A game next time we spar’. I’m not so taken with the idea because you’re dangerous enough even not using most of your powers but enemies aren’t going to fight fairly either, so … “ 

_It’s not my fault if I get excited at the idea of a real fight. Besides, if we don’t hold back on the boost and lightning I think we’re not as outmatched as you think._

_I note that it’s my body that’s going to get beaten up here._

That got another blank look from Avalon before she shook her head, “Chambers, you are a very strange person.” 

I gave her a bright smile, “I try my best. For my part, “ I bit my lip, “… do you still have contacts there because … “ 

There was a pause as she thought about that, “You want to know if your friend is alive?” 

“I’ve heard that training can be … intense there.” 

_If they managed to kill Miranda before I got to properly meet her … I liked her. She was a good kid, I hope she’s becoming an amazing woman.._

_Besides, I miss watching the crazy stunts you two got up to._

Her face went expressionless, “Half of the recruits don’t survive to graduation, or our equivalent of it … I … I know a person I can talk to, do you have her full name?” 

“Miranda Wallbern, give me your email and I can send you a bunch of pictures from when I last saw her too. She’s … she’s tough.” I took a breath, “Look, I’ve lost more people than I wanted over the years … “ 

“I’ll talk to somebody I know, he’ll be able to find out. Are you okay with her knowing you’re at Crossroads?” 

I nodded, “Yeah, tell her that I miss her and I’m not letting minor things like Heretic organisation rivalries get between me and my best friend.” I finished adjusting blazer in the mirror, “Does the garden have a uniform? This is the first time I’ve ever worn a school uniform in my life.” 

_It looks good on you. I still think you should have gone for the skirt version._

_No skirts!_

“No, things are … different there. Come on Chambers.” 

As we headed out I felt I had to ask, “I won’t tell anyone else without permission … but the rest of the team will probably find out at some point. I’m pretty sure they’ll be okay with it … and by okay with it I mean have a bunch of questions about Eden’s Garden.” 

I got the impression Avalon was about to say something then she stopped to think. “They really will won’t they … people really hate the Garden and they hate me for being from there, I’m not used to people not reacting badly.” 

I shrugged, “My best friend is there apparently, and the twins apparently owe their existence to the garden. You know Vanessa and Shiori don’t have anything built up about it. All I’m saying is think about it. And if other people already know …” 

“Better to tell them myself.” She let out an annoyed sound. 

“So anyway, I saw your last name beside the door … are you related to the Headmistress?” 

“That … is a long story.” 

* * *

“This is not a game. I want every last one of you to repeat that back to me. Say it loud.” 

Professor Katarin was being his normal relaxed and laid back self ... well, laid back by stereotypical drill sergeant standards. This was our first real class of the day, self defense. If she wasn't a bodiless spirit of knowledge and snark I was pretty sure Theia would be bouncing up and down right now. 

This was a different gym from where we did the morning exercise, much larger with four sparring areas. I was reasonable familiar with it from my earlier visits and sparring with Avalon, and I could say for a fact the floor was padded to the point where bouncing off it with your face only hurt a lot rather than doing real damage. No guesses as to how I found that out. Mirrors lined every wall, magically reinforced at least enough to not melt when one of my bolts hit them, and a handful of training dummies that for similar reasons I knew could self-repair. 

The six massive trunks lined up behind him that he'd wheeled in in pairs were new, but I was pretty sure I knew what was inside them already. 

_We're gonna get a weapon! I've never had a proper magical weapon before that we could keep, this is going to be awesome._

There were about three full teams in this particular class, or eighteen students. I recognized some from orientation the day before, but most were new faces. All of us were clearly still adjusting to this place. 

Katarin waited there while everyone dutifully repeated the words back to him. Then he shook his head. “Louder. I want you to say it and mean it! This is not a game! Say it again! This is not a game!” 

Finally, after it was all but screamed back at him, the man nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Now that you’ve all said that, there won’t be any excuses when I expel the first one of you that acts like this is a game. And I will, believe me. If I see any of you messing around with the stuff in here, or goofing off while we’re trying to learn, or doing anything that could end with you or one of your classmates getting hurt, you’re out of here. I don’t mean out of this class, I mean out of this school. You will never be a part of this again. Do you understand me? Harkess, do you think I’m kidding?” 

One of the other bystander-kin students, Malcolm, shook his head while speaking loudly. “No, sir.” 

“What about you, Porter?” Professor Katarin was focused on my teammate Shiori, not her brother Columbus. 

The girl flushed at the attention before shaking her head quickly. “No, sir, you’re not kidding.” 

“Damn straight I’m not.” The big man let his gaze move over all of us. “You do not get three strikes in this class. You fuck around, you’re out. I will not teach students who can’t take this seriously. You’ll be a danger to yourselves, to your fellow students, and to everyone we’re trying to protect. Is that clear?” 

After a chorus of agreement, Katarin nodded in satisfaction. “In that case, let’s get started. When I call your name, come up here. The rest of you can talk among yourselves until we get all this sorted out.” 

Shiori swallowed, "So, what are we here for?" 

“Weapon selection,” Sands replied, staring with wide eyes toward the front of the room. Her voice was hushed with awe. “You have no idea how long we’ve been waiting for our chance at this. Every year, over and over, we just watch everyone else get their weapons. Now it’s our turn.” 

I spoke quietly, "When Professor Katarin described it to me before I called it 'wand selection with teeth' ... you'll be getting a bonded weapon, it will be with you for life." 

Avalon coolly intoned "A heretic's weapons _is_ their life. We learn to do everything with it, and the weapon helps define who you are. Point is, this is a big deal. Whatever Katarin up there matches you with, that’s it. Gun, blade, bow, whatever it ends up being, as Chambers said, it's your weapon for life. It’s bonded to you and only you. It gets stronger as you do. You’ll learn to fight with it, and to channel the powers you gain through it. The weapon is your outlet, your implement to use a lot of the skills that you’ll learn here. That’s why he’s stressing the safety so much. Because they can’t just take it away at the end of classes. The whole point is that you carry it around with you everywhere. It never leaves your side, ever. It’s a part of you for life. Understand?” 

Shiori, Vanessa and me all nodded, in my case I was trying to ignore the deranged giggling in my head. Vanessa asked, "You'll be learning to make weapons like this won't you." 

Avalon nodded, "Not for a long time though, these are hand-made, one at a time by Developers who put their heart and soul into what they’re making. Then they’re put into those crates and brought out to be matched against a new student. Once you’re matched to a weapon, that’s it. Unless something happens, and believe me, it’s really hard to break a Heretic weapon, it’s yours until you die. Then they bury you with it.” 

At that point, Katarin called for Sands. The other girl gave me a quick, eager smile before schooling her expression to look as calm as possible as she walked to the front. She could not, apparently, stop herself from skipping just a little bit. 

I couldn't help myself commenting, "Well at least looking more relaxed about it than your sister won't be hard." 

That got a smile from Sarah. 

_The Sarah I remember would have been dancing up there._

_Then you have a chance to get to know her all over again. Stop seeing who she was, see who she is._

_I miss my friend._

_We're going to get them back but you can't expect things to stay where they were. Sure, Scout is lot more shy than Sarah was but she's still your friend, just changed._

Of course I still kept forgetting to call her Scout in my head, so I wasn't perfect either. 

On that note Sarah ... dammit, Scout was called up next and Sands came back holding a sword. It had a black handle with red markings and a silver blade. She was holding it close with an unreadable expression on her face, though I was pretty sure anyone that even hinted at taking it off her would get it blade first. She blinked up at us, "Multi-weapon ... mum had one very similar when she started out." 

Vanessa blinked, "What does it do?" 

Sands grinned and tapped some of the markings and the blade came apart and seemed to fold up into the hilt. At the same time other weapon parts unfolded, some bits seeming to pass through each other as they assembled into some kind of massive spear with various blades on the end. 

_Switchblade halberd, not bad._

She transformed it again, going though axe, spiked morningstar, and then turning into a weird scythe with a curved blade at one end and a straight one at the other. That got an extra look of contentment from her, "I can even make it look like Da's weapon." 

_If we ever need to fight him look out for that thing, I know the basic capabilities and we can deal with them, but I’m sure it’s got more tricks I haven’t seen. And he’s also a veteran heretic and I have no idea on his full range of powers._

Getting into fights with the teachers was not one of the plans, though Theia had a real attachment to the idea of punching Liam Mason at least once. I could understand it, I was grumpy at him and I'd barely met him. 

Avalon nodded a little, "It's not reshaping, it's different stored weapons ... over time she can get them fitted with different abilities, so she can pick the right one for any situation." 

That got a grin from Sands, "It's lucky I know somebody taking Development Track." 

Her response was a faint snort, though Avalon was giving the weapon a thoughtful look. 

Sarah came back with her choice a ... steampunk musket crossed with huge sniper rifle. It was quite a bit taller than Sar ... than Scout was, with all sorts of tubes and coils and other things along the length and a massive scope on top with multiple lenses along the length. It looked like it could shoot through a building, or maybe a tank. Scout was being a lot less demonstrative than Sands had been but was still looking very pleased with it. 

I nodded at the two of them, "So Scout makes sure they can't stay at a distance, and Sands makes sure they really don't want to stay in close combat ... nice combo." 

Sands nodded, "We'll get them coming and going." 

Katarin called me up next and I could feel everyone watching me as I walked up to the chests. "Sir. Fair warning, I don't know weapons much, I'm good at hitting things and zapping things, and that one time I stabbed that lizard." 

He nodded, "I'll skip the normal warning speech, you've had some lessons in overconfidence. Now… let’s see, do you think you’d be more comfortable with something that let you get close, or something that’s more of a distance weapon? Don’t overthink it, just go with your first instinct and we’ll see what matches you.” 

_What do you think?_

_This is your weapon Felicity, not mine._

_We'll both be using it._

_Pick what suits you, I already have my weapon._

_I think technically I am your weapon._

_I have the best weapon._

"Ah ... my brain says standing back and killing things at range is best ... but my heart is telling me I want something close, so let's try that." 

Nodding, Katarin turned to open the first three storage trunks. “Take a look. Take out a few, hold them in your hand, see what feels the most natural. Don’t worry, if the weapon that’s meant for you is something else, you’ll know. You’ll feel the connection when it’s there, trust me. And trust yourself.” 

Theia was being very quiet in my head as I looked across the options. Swords, axes, daggers, staves, and more all lined the interior. Slowly, I ran my hand along them. My fingers found a nice looking scimitar, but when I lifted it from the trunk, I knew it was wrong. It didn’t feel right. I couldn’t really explain it, but the weapon didn’t fit me. It felt awkward in my grip and I put it down almost immediately. 

I tried a few other weapons in the crate, but nothing really called out to me. Gradually, I moved on to the second one. More weapons, some of which I didn’t even recognize. There was something that looked sort of like a nunchaku, except that there were three handles instead of two, all with cord between them. Beside that were a couple of weapons that were even stranger. Basically they looked like hand-held sickles with the curved blade, along with a straight blade extending in the opposite direction from the base of the curved one, and a smaller knife-like blade down near the handle. 

“Hunga Munga,” Katarin informed me. “African throwing weapon. How does it feel?” 

I paused, letting my fingers close around the handle. There was something… almost there, and I let my eyes close to focus on it for a few seconds before shaking my head. “It’s close, I think. I feel… something. But I don’t think they fit me.” I bit my lip and looked up then. “Am I just overthinking it?” 

“Possibly,” he allowed. “But let’s see if something else suits you better.” 

Theia finally 'spoke' up,_ Your mother used a pair of Hunga Munga, you're probably getting a bit of affinity there._

_Me using those would probably put people even more on edge wouldn't it._

_Yes and that would be funny, but you should still find the weapon that suits you._

Finally, I moved on to the third chest. My gaze passed over several weapons before landing on a long staff set near the back. As my eyes landed on the weapon, I paused. Something, a feeling of familiarity that I couldn’t explain, came to me. I lifted a hand to carefully pluck it out of the chest to examine more closely. 

It was a five foot long staff. The body of it was red, with black ends that tapered into points. As I turned the thing over, I felt something… much more immediate than I had thought. There was no question about it. This wasn’t something vague or uncertain. “It’s this one,” I said quietly, but firmly. “This is mine.” 

Katarin didn’t ask if I was sure. Instead, he nodded and put his hand out. Somewhat reluctantly, I passed the weapon over and released it. 

Taking the staff, the big man gave it a cursory once over. “Right, I don’t want you actually using this thing until I teach you how to do it safely, but this is a kinetic-burst staff.” 

I could feel my hands itching to be holding it again, "Okay ... so what does it do? Because that sounds exciting." 

_Theia, is that mind-controlling me?_

_Not exactly, it's established a link with you, or activated one that was already there, it's ... complex. It's part of you now._

_So like you._

He smiled a little, "It is." He showed me one of the ends of the staff, then directed my attention to a small depression in the handle where his fingers were resting. “Press this here to charge.” As he pressed it, the black ends of the staff began to glow blue. 

“Release the button to stop charging.” Katarin continued. He moved his finger off the button, but the blue glow remained at both ends. “Then you’ve got three choices. First, you smack someone with it and it’ll add the concussive force that you’ve charged into it to your blow. Like this,” he turned to the nearest training dummy and gave a whack of the staff against it. The concussive force that the staff unleashed blew the dummy across the room to crash into the mirror on the far side with a terrible noise that made a few other students yelp. 

_Huh ... I need to 'watch' that thing in action more ..._

Katarin seemed a little surprised for a moment at my lack of reaction then nodded, "I suppose it is quieter than a lightning bolt. Right, second choice, just touch the thing you want to transfer the charge to. Has to be an inanimate object like a wall or floor or something. Like this.” Again, he charged the staff before touching one of the ends to the floor between us. “Keep holding the button while you do it so it doesn’t go off.” 

As he held the point of the staff to the ground, I saw a faint blue bubble of energy appear there, about the size of a football. It turned almost entirely translucent and difficult to notice even when I knew what I was looking for after he pulled the staff away. 

“Concussive mine,” he informed me. “You can set it off by pressing this other button here on the staff, or just wait for someone to touch it. Use it for traps or just to give yourself an edge in the middle of a fight by controlling where your opponent can safely step.” 

I nodded slowly, "Nice ... I could have used that in some fights." 

_Control the terrain, you can control the battle._

"And finally propulsion. Once you get good enough with this thing, you can use the concussive force to propel yourself through the air. Make yourself jump higher or longer, move faster, escape when the enemy thinks they have you cornered, and anything else you can think of. Girl your size, an average charge ought to throw you a good fifteen, twenty feet when you do it right.” He gave me another thoughtful look, "Your balance and reaction speed should help a lot with that." 

"I'm thinking that's one I'm going to want to have supervision and lots of padding on the floor, and walls, before I practice it. Ah, can I train with it if I don't power it up? If I have to rebuild my entire combat style around it ..." 

He nodded, "Don't activate any of the features and I'll clear you for that. Avalon can show you the basics." 

"Is this conductive? Can it be _made_ conductive?" 

He snorted, "Probably, we'll hold off on changes for the moment. Besides, from watching you I'm pretty sure your power won't care." 

_Of course he noticed, stupid observant combat trainers. He's right though, just use it to focus your visualization, act like it's conductive and it will be._

A final nod, "Right," he replied before gesturing for me to go while he raised his voice. “All right, next we’ve got Avalon. Come on up, let’s see what works for you.” 

_So I have a weapon now._

_You have an extension of yourself, treat it with respect and it will save you. Of course now we get to teach you how to use it. Training time!_

Stupid drill-sergeant head-angel. 


	16. Reconnaissance 3.02

[Tuesday, September 5, 2017] 

“Hi. So I’m Nevada, that’s just Nevada, not Professor Nevada. Welcome to Stranger Truths 101.” 

Her enthusiasm was contagious, between that and how downright chirpy Theia was being in my head about whatever she was hoping to learn off seeing my staff in action I was in a pretty good mood. 

To be honest I’d needed that after yesterday. 

Apparently there was a limit to how contagious the enthusiasm was though. 

“You’re kidding, right? Are you old enough to be our teacher?” One of the other girls asked from the other side of the room. “Because you don’t look like you’re old enough to vote, let alone teach. You look like you’re our age.” 

“Yeah,” one of the boys added. “We’re trying to learn here. Isn’t this supposed to be an important class? Why would they throw some bimbo at us?” 

“Right, right.” Nevada’s head bobbed easily. “See, here’s the thing, making assumptions like that is sort of like, how a lot of people in your position kind of… die. Things aren’t always what they look like. And that’s part of what this class is supposed to teach you. You have to stop making assumptions just based on what you see? For example.” She pointed over at me, “Do you think she looks dangerous?” 

I did my best to look innocent and maybe just a little bit dopy. 

_She’s not going to let us beat on them is she._

_I doubt it, this is the wrong class for that._

The girl gave me a careful look, “Aren’t you the Silverstone that had a freak-out after seeing the Edge?” She seemed deeply unimpressed by me. 

_But I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t be fun._

_That’s the spirit. Stab early, stab often._

_Not every problem can be solved by stabbing somebody._

_Yeah, but you have to admit the ones that you can solve by applied stabbing tend to be the easy ones._

_True._

I nodded, “Yeah, having Fossor show up in your vision is a bit intense.” 

That made her blanch a little, then she looked back at Nevada, “You think _she_ can take me?” 

Nevada shrugged a bit, “You’re the one that thinks anyone that looks harmless isn’t dangerous.” She gave me a small smile and a nod. I could see some smirks on some of the other Bystander-Kin along with the Masons. 

_Oh yeah. Boop time?_

_Boop time._

The girl was still turning to look back at me when I boosted, bouncing across the desks and jumping clear across the room in a somersault, though Theia had to step in for a moment to make sure I didn’t flub the landing. Perfect balance only went so far when your foot slipped a bit on take-off. 

_Foolish host! Take more care with our body!_

From the viewpoint of most of the class I was a blur again, though I expect Avalon and Nevada could track me. Okay, so this wasn’t the first time I’d used this gag, but it was a good way to get somebody’s attention without hurting them. Also I couldn’t let the other kin down. 

And It never stopped being funny. Never. 

“Boop!” 

She was just looking at me with a slightly glazed expression before her reflexes caught up with her and she managed to fall off her chair. I had landed crouching on her desk so I leaned over, “So, did you know I was a Natural Heretic before I went though the edge?” 

I did a backflip off into the middle of the room and walked back to my desk, exchanging high-fives with both the Mason twins, and interestingly Koren Fellows who leaned out for one. After sitting down I held up a hand to Avalon … who just looked at me before reaching out and lightly tapping it with her own hand. 

_I’m sure she’s laughing on the inside._

_Deep on the inside._

Nevada spoke up again, “I’ve seen the results of Flick’s training, she could … probably kill almost everyone in this room. Notably most of you will be at that stage by at least halfway through the year if not earlier, but the two things you should take away from this are firstly, you really can’t assume something is safe because it looks harmless, and secondly the most dangerous thing you could encounter would be a hostile Heretic.” 

She clapped her hands together, “But we’re here to talk about Strangers. How to identify them, what their powers are, and how best to fight them. You do need to pay attention in this class because this is literally going to be life or death for you at some point. On the upside if you ever had any questions about mythological creatures, this is the class for it.” She got more serious for a moment, “If some of you think you’re a bit hard done by not having Professor Pericles, I kind of agree. He’s probably the finest teacher I’ve ever met and a good friend, but what made him great at what he did was he was good at _teaching_ and I’m glad I get the chance to pass on his legacy to you in turn. 

“My hours are posted on my office door, I’ll keep it updated with my schedule. If you ever find yourself falling behind come and talk to me, if you’re concerned about something come and talk to me, if there is something else you think you need to know about, come and talk to me. You get the idea.” 

I had a feeling I had not just made a friend … of course after years of being the black girl’s friend at school, my tolerance for terms like ‘Silverstone’ wasn’t great. Sure, I’d heard worse, far worse, but … eh, life is too short to put up with this. Both the girl and the boy that had spoken up first, and some of their friends were giving me an unhappy look. 

_Meh, we can take them._

Nevada blithely ignored the atmosphere, though I was pretty sure she didn’t miss any of it, “So today we’re going to start with an old classic.” Her grin somehow got even bigger, “Zombies!” 

* * *

_I think she’s really trying to kill me this time._

_No, this is just good training. You might want to duck. And she’s still holding back. Such a tease._

The staff in Avalon’s hands whistled as if flashed over my head as I ducked under it, my perfect balance inherited from Tabbris letting me keep my stance as I flicked out with my staff towards her knees. This was the kind of blow I’d never normally risk in sparring, but Avalon had told me if I hurt her enough to stick though her regen she’d deserve it. 

I’d made the mistake, after class, of commenting that I didn’t know how to use my staff properly, and asked if Avalon knew anything about it. She had decided there was no time like the present which was why my after dinner activity was ‘Avalon teaches me to use a staff by wailing on me with one’. To be fair she was giving some real instructions too, how my stance needed to change from unarmed, how to hold it, and what it did to my effective reach. 

We’d even gone over how to speed up drawing it out of the cell-phone case sized canister the staff somehow fit in. It was less impressive than Scout’s ridiculous folding desk her father had made for her, but this was mine, so it was pretty cool. Five feet of staff easily fitting into a case a few inches long was never going to get old. 

Avalon got mostly out of the way of my wild swipe, showing a gracefulness I was used to only seeing in my sisters, though I managed to just clip her with the tip leaving a scratch. She looked down and nodded and we both stepped back. “Okay, that’s a point to you Chambers.” 

Some experimentation had shown I didn’t have issues visualising the staff as an extension of my hand and wrapping it in lightning, or triggering a zap when I tagged something with it. I could even do it when I wasn’t looking at the staff which was useful. Trying the same trick with the mundane staff Avalon had borrowed from school supplies hadn’t gone nearly as smoothly, I could do the same trick but only when I was looking at it, and it took focus. Turns out the weapon bond was already having benefits. 

That was the third time I’d managed to tag her … don’t ask how many points she had, I have some small amount of pride I’m trying to hang on to. It was made worse by the staff apparently being the weapon Avalon was worst at, of the ones she knew at all. I looked at the rapidly healing scratch on her knee, “I’ll admit I’m looking forward to getting regeneration myself.” 

She nodded, “It’s pretty useful. You can be sure that will be one of the first things they make sure to give you … it was at the Garden.” 

“You decided when to tell them?” 

She wrinkled her nose, I was not going to dare say how adorable that was, “Soon. Right, let’s work on your parrying more, you’re trying to use it one-handed too much.” she paused, “Okay, you’re going to do that a lot anyway, the ability to use it to zap things at range is too useful, but you also need to know how to use it defensively. It’s not a lightsaber.” 

I lit it up for a moment, “Who says it can’t be.” Interestingly using powers with the staff was the one thing I could do better with Theia’s powers than Theia could. Apparently the bond was very much to me and not us. 

She just gave me a look, “Get into stance.” 

_I told you she’d be a great roommate._

* * *

[Wednesday, September 6, 2017] 

“Well you seem happy.” 

I grinned at Sands, “I get to learn magic today, isn’t that amazing! Actual magic.” 

Now you may be thinking, ‘Flick, don’t you have somebody that is by human standards an archmage living in your head? Don’t you have a younger sister actively teaching your father spells back at home?’ And you wouldn’t be wrong. 

Thing is I didn’t have a good reason to know magic, so as a family we decided that I wouldn’t. Faking not knowing magic can be tricky so, to my begrudging agreement, I was not included in any of the magic classes at home. I did know a chunk of theory, there was no way to avoid that short of mind-wipes, but I’d never cast a spell using my own energy. If something happened that suddenly needed a lot of magic thrown around, well see the bit about having an archmage that lives in my head and can control my body. 

So none of my enthusiasm was faked, because I was about to learn actual magic. This was going to be _so cool_. 

The rest of the team was fairly excited too, I think I even caught Avalon smiling a little. For all her Eden’s Garden background they couldn’t teach magic any earlier than Crossroads could, so this would be a learning experience for her as well. Probably the two that knew the most ahead of time were the twins, Theia said they had managed to teach her at least one trick for bypassing security spells she hadn’t known back when she’d been here. 

Shiori was fidgeting with her weapons, a pair of discs, like frisbees that she wore at her hips, just under the hem of her school jacket. They could let her blast things with electricity on contact and create lines of electricity between them and the gloves she wore as part of the weapon system. Theia had some ideas about seeing if Shiori and I could use each other as end-points for arcs of lightning. 

Vanessa had of all things a whip at one hip, and I was already dreading the comments from Issac when he found out. Its trick was to copy material it hit and put that on other things it hit, like metal on a tree. Honestly I wasn’t too sure how that was going to be useful but Vanessa seemed very happy with it, so who was I to look down on her magic whip. 

Avalon had the strangest weapon in the group. With Shiroi gloves were part of her weapon, for Avalon her gloves, or rather gauntlets, were the entire weapon. They had slots on the back that could form various energy constructs sticking out from them, like blades, shields, and so forth. Just as usefully they could also create tools, which was great for somebody in the Development Track. Oh, and of course she could punch people with them as well, ask me how I know about that. Also ouch, that girl does not pull her punches. 

Still though, magic! I was so looking forward to this. With luck I could even get through an entire class without picking a fight with anyone! 

I’d managed to calm down a little bit by the time we were sitting in the classroom and Professor Carfried, the head of the explorer track, came wandering in with the same kind of enthusiasm that Nevada brought to her class. He didn’t look much older either, but as we’d seen appearances could be deceptive, and nobody seemed to be challenging his role as a teacher in this class at least. 

"Good afternoon, class! Let's learn about magic shall we?" He'd been carrying a thick walking stick when he came in along with a heavy duffel bag he'd dropped beside his desk. The stick he'd kept in hand though until now, when he threw it behind him to leave it hovering in the middle of the room. Slowly, the stick began to turn in a circle, rotating around like the blade of a fan. It gradually spun faster, until the stick was nothing more than a whirling blur of motion that was impossible to track. Then it wasn’t just a blur anymore. An image appeared, like a television screen. It showed an apple orchard, the fruit ripe and ready for plucking on the trees. 

Theia’s tone was thoughtful, _Portal, but I’m not familiar with the specific mechanism. Interesting.._ I could almost feel her _looking_ at the apparent portal as Carfried proved her right a moment later by reaching into it the picture and pulling out an apple out that he took a bite out of before snatching the stick out of the air. 

Theia’s father could control any kind of energy near him, and treated magic as just another kind of energy. Apparently he didn’t so much cast spells as just kind of wished the effect into existence, which explained a lot about why he’d been the person in charge of Earth for a long time. Theia couldn’t do anything like that, yet at least, but she could _see_ magic in a way that most people would require enchanted items or spells for. 

Sadly this didn’t mean she could just learn a spell by watching it go off, but she could get a fairly good idea of how you’d go about building it, if her magical theory was good enough. That was still an ongoing thing, though she did have a massive archive of notes and guides from one of the Imperium’s finest field mages to work off, but it wasn’t the same as an actual teacher. All of this was a rather long way of saying that both of us had things to learn, but Theia could cheat. 

“This is what I will teach you,” Carfried announced. “This is the magic of the Heretics. Our magic. It is not simple magic. It is not all fireballs and magic missiles. Heretical magic is not fast. Remember that. Learn it. Know it. Live it. Heretical magic is not fast. You could live for a thousand years and you will never learn magic that will let you point your hand, say a couple words, and throw a lightning bolt at your enemies.” He paused for a moment then looked over at me grinning back at him. He gave me an amused look, "As I'm sure Miss Chambers wants to point out, you might inherit that ability from a Stranger that you kill, but magic itself will not do it. Because magic is not what, Miss Tamaya?” He looked toward a Native American girl that I vaguely remembered from Orientation before everything went wrong. 

“Fast?” She offered after realizing he genuinely wanted an answer. I really needed to talk to the twins and find out who all the people in our year, especially the Bystander-Kin were. 

“Yes,” the man smiled and straightened. “It is not fast. Our magic is based around Enchantment. You will never wiggle your fingers, say a couple words, and throw lightning. You can learn to spend hours of time and energy enchanting a stick with a command word that will then produce lightning when that command word is spoken. But even then, it’s not an unlimited thing. You put the energy into the object, you train it to perform the action that you want, and trigger it. After the effect takes place, the item can’t do it again until you invest your energy and time back into it. The more often a single object is enchanted the exact same way, the easier it becomes for that object to ‘learn’ the effect that you’re teaching it. But even then it still requires time. Minutes rather than hours, perhaps, but in the heat of battle, minutes do not exist.” 

_You can just think a magical effect into existence, but that normally takes much much longer and is really unreliable and dangerous. Though it's also where new spells come from, and how various societies discover magic exists in the first place._

_Like your father?_

_What father does is a supercharged version of that process, but yes. It only works because he has impossible control and vast amounts of power to put behind it. You my dear sister are going to have to do this the standard way._ She sighed slightly. _As do I._

“A-are you sure that everyone can do it?” Miss Tamaya asked, her voice a bit tentative. 

Carfried nodded. “You’ve used the Heretical Edge. You have the connection to the same energy that the Strangers use to come to this world, and you can use that energy for this enchantment magic.” 

I heard a snort in my head. He'd just told an outright lie, though I did honestly wonder if he even knew he was wrong. Technically yes the Edge did unlock magical capability, but so did anything that removed the Bystander Effect. Bystanders couldn't cast because all their potential ability to use magic was pulled off by the Bystander Effect to power it. That was how you end up with an effect that's not only this wide-spread and enduring, but was also getting more and more powerful over time as the global population powering it increased. Theia and I weren't even sure how you'd start taking something like that down, we were hoping her mom would have some ideas when we rescued her. 

“Now,” the teacher pressed on. “Who’s ready to learn how this magic works?” Gazing around the room, he smiled as pretty much every hand was raised. “Fantastic. 

“Let’s get started.” 

* * *

[Thursday, September 7, 2017] 

Professor Katarin stood in front of us and asked “What are the three greatest strengths that we have as Heretics?” 

One of the Heretic-Born raised his hand before answering, “Our collective knowledge gained by those who have come before us, our ability to see through the Strangers’ disguises, and our ability to steal the strengths and powers from the ones that we kill.” 

We were in the self-defense classroom and today was the day we were going to get our first powers. Well, first powers from murdering some non-so-Innocent Alter at least. 

“Yes,” Katarin gave a nod of his head before folding his massive arms over his chest. “It’s that last one that we’re going to be working with today. If you’re going to survive the kind of training that we have to get through this semester, you’re all going to have to take a bit of punishment. But we can’t have you getting beat up and bruised, then just send you onto the next class. You need a bit of an edge first. That’s where this little guy comes in.” 

Reaching down behind himself, Katarin straightened up with something grasped in his hand. There were several yelps through the room, as well as one muttered, “Fuck, that’s disgusting.” 

_Meh, I've seen worse._

_Well of course you have._

The thing that Katarin was holding looked a bit like a poodle crossed with a cockroach. It had six legs and was covered with a dark brown shell with blotches of fur showing here and there. It was probably only about as long as my forearm, but I knew that size really wasn't everything when it came to critters. Back in my private hunting period it was something I wouldn't blink much at going after if Theia wasn't warning me off. 

“This,” Katarin explained in his booming voice, “is a Peridle. Ugly little shit, huh? Don’t worry, they’re only dangerous in packs. Keep them separated and the things are too stupid to do anything but sit there. They don’t attack, they barely move without a swarm leader, and they are almost entirely useless save for one thing. Anyone wanna try to tell me what that is?” 

“They regenerate?” Someone else put in. 

“Yup.” Katarin gave the thing a shake, and it made this ugly little squelching noise that almost brought bile to my mouth. “As long as they’re not dead, the damn things heal right up after you hurt them. So one of the first things we do with you new students is have you kill one of these things. That way you get to feel what it’s like to absorb a Strangers’ power, and we get to beat you up a little harder since you’ll get better a lot faster than you would have otherwise. It’s a win-win situation.” 

_Also makes the first kill something it's really hard to feel bad about destroying._

_Should I feel bad about this?_

_A Peridle? Oh Lords no, in large enough groups they are a genuine menace. If there had been any near where we lived I would have told you to target them first, they can get very predatory when they get a proper swarm going. Also I'm very happy to get some regeneration, the advantage Heretics have over my race is not being glass cannons in a fight. Compared to Heretics we're very dangerous but fragile, and this is a good step towards getting you tough like a proper Heretic._

_Also because you don't know how to do your father's defense shield trick yet._

_And yes, because I don't know how to do Father's defense shield trick._ That was an ongoing project for Theia, her father had a way of creating a shield around himself that got tougher the more damage it stopped. In the past it had stopped shots from tanks, and I mean the kind of tanks Theia's people built, not human ones. 

“All right then,” Katarin boomed. “Separate into your roommate pairs, and then line up. One pair at a time go through that way.” He pointed to a door at the back of the room before reiterating. “One pair through at a time. You’ll find two of these buggers waiting for you. Kill them, watch your partner kill theirs, then come back out here. Shouldn’t take any of you longer than a minute.” 

I stretched a little, "Critter hunting, I can do this." 

Avalon shrugged. I assumed this wasn't even her first Peridle kill, the things were too useful for Eden's Garden not to use. 

We waited for other people to go first, along with horrible squelching sounds, cries of disgust, and the smell. "Avalon, is one of their defenses that they are so horrible that nobody wants to go close enough to kill then?" 

That got a tiny smirk, while Katarin glanced over from where he was standing next to the door, "I won't say you're wrong, but we have confirmed it's _not_ something that you can pick up off them as a power." 

Everyone around shuddered at the mental image of what that would be like. 

Finally it was our turn and we walked in together. I'd already gotten my staff out and I started the charge sequence on reflex while taking a look around. The room smelled worse on the inside than it had on the outside. I gagged a little before taking in the sight. Sure enough, there were two of the damn things sitting a bit apart from each other on a hard wooden floor. The walls were blank white, and there were bits of blood and bug-poodle body parts lying around that Katarin hadn’t quite gotten to. 

_I need to teach you the air-bubble spell for keeping toxic gas and horrible smells away at some point soon._

Wait, there was a third Peridle sitting a bit away from the other two, that wasn't right. I gave another look around bringing my staff up and a moment later I heard myself say in a voice not my own, "It's a trap! **Get out!**" 

Even as I said that I heard the door slam shut, followed by a pounding on it and the professor bellowed, "Protect yourselves, we're coming!" 

Ahead of is was what had really set Theia off, a spray painted message that had suddenly appeared on the far wall ‘Eden’s Garden Whore Doesn’t Belong Here. If Headmistress Mommy Won’t Get Rid Of You, We Will.’. 

Avalon was giving me a weird look for a moment before her reflexes took over and she scanned the room and saw the message. Her expression tightened while I did my own scan and ... shit. 

"Swarm on the ceiling." 

She followed my gaze up at the ceiling literally covered in Peridles. “That’s a lot of bugs.” 

_And yes, that is a dangerous level of swarm._ I could feel her getting ready to step in. 

_I need to learn, only help if I need it._

There was pride in her tone, _Good girl. Let's do this._

With a collective screech, the ceiling itself seemed to collapse as they launched themselves straight for us. 


	17. Reconnaissance 3.03

[Thursday, September 7, 2017] 

I was glad I had experience with things like this or I’d have died in the first few seconds. 

Theia had ingrained in me that to freeze was to die, that an okay plan right now is better than a perfect plan later. So I reacted. 

Everything started to slow down around me as pulled on my boost, not anything close to full speed but just enough to give me a few moments to think. Even as the peridles were still dropping on us I swung my staff upwards and triggered a blast. It didn’t kill any of them of course, but the shockwave blasted the ones coming directly at us away so the swarm came down around us rather than on top of us. Injured a few of them too, but that wouldn’t stick. 

Avalon was already moving of course, the first peridle that jumped at us from the ground was neatly bisected by a blade coming from her gauntlets and she let out a faint pleased murmur as a green glow built up around her. 

_Reaper absorption. Never seen it personally but I’ve taken memories of it._

Avalon gave the nearest peridles a savage grin, “Yeah, this prey has teeth, fuckers”. The taunt didn’t stop her from moving, killing several more peridles in the next few seconds. 

Well, I couldn’t let her do everything. Sadly none of our training, personal or otherwise, had included small unit tactics yet so I couldn’t casually coordinate with Avalon but enough of her training had turned into reflex that the pair of peridles that jumped at me were met with my staff rather than me punching them. Among other things that would have been really disgusting. 

This was just another critter hunt, I just needed to tell myself that. Not nearly as bad as the Chimera or the Fire Lizards or those Wolf Things. And nothing like Vampires, I could do this. Theia had trained me for this. Hell, Tabbris had helped train me for this. 

I moved out of the block to bring my staff around, the tip whistling as I brought it down on the first peridle smashing it and then flicked it around to stab into the other one, killing both of them. And then I lost track of things as a beautiful golden glow built up around me and a wave of pleasure like nothing I’ve ever felt almost knocked me off my feet. I couldn’t hold back the gasp of pleasure. 

_I’ve taken memories of that too. Now **MOVE**._

It was that yell in my head that got me paying attention again. My fast strikes had helped recharge the staff and I slammed it into the leader of the next wave of peridles and triggered it, exploding the lead peridle and sending a spray of gunk over the rest that disrupted their attempts to hit me as a group. The next blast of pleasure was muted and didn’t managed to distract me from how I’d gotten some of that crap on me. Oh god, so disgusting. 

_I’m damping down the effects. I needed you to react honestly to the first but I’ll help you with the next ones. Now start taking this fight seriously and kill them._

As long as things had felt for me only a few more moments had passed, “Avalon, can you keep them off us for a moment?” 

She gave me a glance, “So you _can _fight for real, good.” Another peridle died to a quick stab. “I can, you got a plan?” Even as she was asking, Avalon generated a pair of giant hammers she used to smash away a chunk of the swarm, then brought up a shield between us and the bulk of them. 

I let my staff drop and raised my hands up, fingers spread wide. Aim was a problem for me, control, precision. My unique relationship with Theia let me tap into her powers, but I didn’t get the feedback like she did. I couldn’t see magic like she could, and only somewhat see electricity. Right now though, I didn’t need to aim. I just needed to not hit myself or Avalon. Depressingly that was more difficult than it sounded, but in this case I knew Theia would catch me if I messed it up. 

Theia didn’t need to catch me. 

What I fired wasn’t a bolt of lightning, it was a fan that spread out to rip through the closest peridles, tearing into the merely closer ranks and not just electrocuting them but frying them, to give us a proper clear area to work in. Thankfully the wooden floor meant I wasn’t about to electrocute us by mistake. Technically my power didn’t care if it was conductive or not, but it was easier for me to ‘see’ wood as not something that it would conduct back to us though, and the power did what I thought it should. 

A moment later my aura flared up intensely and I stopped thinking about anything useful for a bit. I was pretty sure Theia was buffering it a bit, but this was when I really needed Avalon to cover me because at that point a peridle could have jumped on me and I wouldn’t have noticed. 

When I came back to myself Avalon had obviously been busy and I could see her green aura dying down as she stepped back from another bunch of destroyed critters. The remainder had pulled back and I had a feeling they were planning for something a bit more organised than just another mass rush. The professor was right that these things got smart when they had numbers. Smart and vicious. 

_On the roof._

I glanced up to see a magical circle, dimly glowing. Even as I watched another few peridles fell out of it. “Summoning circle on the ceiling, we need to get rid of it. I don’t know about you but I’m going to get tired eventually.” 

There was a massive slam against the door and I saw more magical markings around the door light up, apparently holding it in place. Worse yet, the summoning circle got a bit brighter too, dropping more peridles. 

_Using the attacks on the barrier to bury us in enemies. When we find who did this I’ll have to complement them before we kill them._

Avalon thought for a moment, “Most magic gets disrupted by electricity.” 

That wasn’t news to me, but now I had an excuse. I raised my hand and hit the circle with a focused blast, even I couldn’t miss at this range. 

I apparently also couldn’t disrupt it, bits of the circle glowed more brightly as my lightning skittered across the surface. “So, whoever is after us plans ahead well. I hate smart enemies.” 

Theia was muttering in the back of my head, _I know several specific and general counters to that that you don’t have any excuse to know. That won’t work, that won’t work … oh, attack the substrate!_

Attack the … oh, it was drawn on the roof. No roof, no spell. Sadly even with the attacks both of us had been throwing around we weren't putting even shallow scratches on the walls, too much magical renforcement. 

Scratches, that was it. “Avalon, our weapons are tougher than the walls, right?” 

She destroyed a couple more bugs, “Yeah, what’s your plan?” 

“Give me something to stand on, right under it. I want to do some etching of my own.” 

Avalon didn’t bother asking questions. I guess she figured whatever my plan was it was better than anything she’d thought of and created another shield, bracing it over her head. 

I leapt up and landed on the force platform, which put me close enough to the circle to reach it with my staff tip. A quick attempt to scratch it didn’t do anything. Maybe with enough boost I could do it, but I wasn’t sure how strong Avalon was. She was holding me up just fine for the moment but she was also having to protect herself while supporting me so I didn’t want to take the risk. So I went for the crazy option. 

_Line it up .. yes, that angle should be right. Good luck._

_Thanks._

I jabbed one end of the staff next to the seal, started to push it across, lining it up with Theia’s suggested angle. Then for the first time ever I triggered the propulsion mode on my staff, turning it into a rocket, forcing the end into the ceiling and across. 

The sound was unbelievable as my staff tore a gouge through the reinforced ceiling, but for a few moments it worked. Then, despite everything I could do with boost, I lost control of my staff. It didn’t help that I found out the hard way the bottom foot of it got weirdly slippery when it fired, right where I was trying to hold it. As good as my balance was there were limits. 

My staff went one way, and I went another, tumbling down into a mass of peridles. 

Boost is good for a lot of things; it can make you faster, it can make you stronger, and it can make you _tougher_. I hit the mass of peridles like a wrecking ball, crushing a few outright. I didn’t have a weapon but I’d known how to fight unarmed a lot longer than armed and I came up swinging. I will say, crushing peridles with a tool is bad, smashing them with your hands and feet is indescribably horrible, and I was pretty sure I’d just gotten some goop in my mouth. I needed to keep moving though, the moment I stopped that damn aura would trigger. 

Avalon had started to move in my direction but must have decided I had things in hand and headed the other way. 

For my part, once I had smashed enough space I triggered an omnidirectional blast. It was a risk, but worst case it would only destroy my uniform while frying everything around me. Despite my fears it went off almost flawlessly, an expanding shell of lightning ripping outwards for a few feet to leave me in a cleared patch of horrific ickiness. Then the wave of pleasure hit. 

Once I could focus again I flicked back to my feet and heard Avalon call out, “Chambers, catch.” Oh right, she’d been going for my staff. I caught it on one hand and spun it to recharge it, looking up to see if my stunt had worked. 

The answer was kinda. It flickered and I saw a peridle fall out of it, and then half of another one. No aura though, apparently that didn’t count as me killing it. It brightened again for a moment as another impact hit the door, then there was a massive crunch as the runes at the entrance outright failed, the circle on the roof going dead at the same time. 

That door was built like a vault door and magicly reinforced on top of that. You could probably hit it with a tank gun and not get though. 

Professor Katarian bent it in half as he tore it off its hinges and rode it into the room, Professor Dare bounding over him in a flip that landed her halfway into the room, sword already in hand. She gave a quick glance around the room then swept her free hand around, bits of the floor or wall under each of the scattered surviving peridles started to shimmer somewhat, like the surface of a lake. 

_Portals?_

That done, Professor Dare flipped her sword around and dropped to one knee while driving the blade into another of the portals directly in front of her. As she did so, the blade disappeared into that spot before simultaneously emerging from each and every other portal that she had created, wiping out every remaining peridle in one strike. 

_Ah, duplication portal. Very nice … I don’t know if that’s a power or her weapon, either way I want that trick._

_No killing other heretics to get their stuff, that would be wrong. Well, not unless they are trying to kill us first, or we need to stop them killing an innocent._

_That really doesn’t limit us much._

Sigh. _No, it doesn’t. Oh and thanks for making that general blast work._

I looked over at Avalon who was panting a bit as the stress came off and I can only blame adrenaline for my next comment. “Thank you for the save Professors … though I would like to state for the record we totally had this under control.” 

That got a bemused look from Dare while Katarian gave a look around the room then a thoughtful one up at the remains of the circle on the ceiling. “Sinclaire, do you agree with your partners assessment?” 

“Chambers isn’t wrong. The summoning circle was damaged, so a repeat of the attack should have shut it down fully. Destroying the remaining targets … “ she looked around at the mass of dead peridles, “would have been doable. At that point we could have breached the door at our leisure assuming you hadn’t already broken though from your side.” 

That was a hell of a lot more polished than anything I had in mind to describe it. I owed her for that … and saving my life I think at least twice in that fight, probably more. 

Katarian nodded a little at that, “Once you’ve cleaned up the Bow Street Runners are going to want to talk to you … “ he frowned at the message still on the wall, “I expect we may be seeing quite a lot of them.” 

Dare had given us a quick once-over with what Theia recognized as a medical spell, “I’ll inform the Headmistress.” I could only guess that was going to go well if Avalon really was Gaia’s daughter. 

Katarian spoke, “Right … after you’ve gotten though with the Runners, I expect a proper essay from each of you. What happened, everything you did to fight them, what you did wrong, and what you could have done better, “ he gave me a look, “Be _detailed_.” 

As punishments for smarting off at my teacher that was honestly pretty mild, so I was going to take my win there. 

_I mean I was going to want to do something like that anyway._

_Does this mean you’ll help me write it?_

_Ha, no. You deserved that. Though I’ll tell you if you get it wrong._

_You’re all heart._

We started to walk out of the room. 

_Though if it makes you feel better. You know that blast you did at the end?_

_I didn’t help, that was all you._

* * *

“ … and then they let us clean up, did another medical exam, and sent us to talk to you.” 

Tribald nodded, making another note. “Your reports do tend to be comprehensive, though I think I’ll also be asking Professor Katarian for a copy of that essay.” He studied me, “I still find it interesting that Theia was the one to notice the trap.” 

I shrugged, “She’s always been more observant than me, especially back when I was Adjacent. I mean we use the same eyes but she’s got more time to pay attention to things I guess, or she’s the bit of me that pays attention. I’m not saying she’s my paranoid side but … Theia always likes to stay aware of potential threats.” 

_Because we don’t lack for those._

That got a hmmm, “Do you have any other thoughts on what happened that you want to share? Either of you?” 

I couldn’t help a small smile at that, it was nice to have people treat her as ‘real enough’. I mean that was going to cause other problems when the wrong people found out but, well, we’d deal with that when it came. 

“Whoever did this had planned around my displayed powers, the magic was shielded against lightning and they did their best to make sure their trap would have extra time to work. But they still badly underestimated both of our ability to fight, and that’s a weird mistake to make given their nominal target. It feels like students? I mean I wouldn’t want to think the staff had been involved with this anyway, but if they were I would have expected it to be more … successful. Despite the preparation that would have been required, this felt like something set up in a hurry.” I shrugged, “That’s all I’ve got, if I find out more I’ll tell somebody.” 

He didn’t comment on the accuracy, or lack of it, in my comments he just asked, “Are you planning on going after these people yourself?” 

“Of course I am. Not only did they try to kill me but they got goop in my mouth, do you know what those things taste like? It’s vile. I’m going to find out who did this and then subject them to punishments worse than even I can think of.” 

Tribald took a breath then paused, and held a finger up, “Don’t you mean punishments worse than they can think of?” 

I shook my head, smirking, “I’m Investigation Track, I’m going to find these people, I will confirm it was them, and then I will _tell Avalon’s Mother_. I fully believe that Headmistress Gaia can come up with something fitting, horrible, and a lot more legal than anything I could manage.” 

That got a small smile, “I’m not sure exactly what will be done with them when we find them, though Banishment is not out of the question. Ah, you do know what that is?” 

I nodded, “Yeah, Sands and Scout have this little guidebook they wrote for Bystanders. It’s pretty useful.” 

“I see. Well, if you could also be good enough to tell me if you find these people as well, this goes past normal school disciplinary levels. And with or without your help, we _will_ find these people.” 

“Tribald, I did have a question that I didn’t think to ask last time. This is about my vision.” I couldn’t help a twitch at remembering back to then. 

_It’s okay Felicity, I’m here._

“Of course, what did you want to know?” 

“Fossor knew my mother, and when he gave her her memory back she knew him too. But that was only after she got her memory back, and … he acted like she used to be somebody important. A banishment could explain that but I’ve looked through the lists of alumni and there was never a Joselyn Atherby on the school rolls. Is there any chance she was from Eden’s Garden? I mean it might explain why their recruiting people were in the area to spot my friend.” 

Tribald just stopped and gave me this wide eyed look. I could see him trying to think about how to answer. In the back of my head Theia was cackling, it was a little bit distracting. 

After a long pause, “That … would make sense." He looked troubled, "I'm limited in what I can say, there are things I'm not allowed to talk about." 

I didn't push him on it, he was probably being literally correct that he physically couldn't tell me. 

"The one thing I can say is that you might find one of the answers that you’re looking for in the Athletic Accolades hall on the second floor of this facility. But I wasn’t the one who directed you there." 

I nodded, "We never talked about this, and I just happened to be wandering around there because I'm a nosy reporter girl who does things like that." 

He gave me a small smile, “Quiet. I will say your theory is a … very logical conclusion given what you officially know, I’m curious what some other people would make of it.” His expression was the weirdest mixture of troubled and bemused. 

“I’ll be sure to keep it in mind then Runner Kine.” 

As I stood up to leave Theia obviously had decided I needed another distraction, _Ahem, ‘Ping’._ And yes, she did say the word ping. 

_You have acquired a new ability._

_Really? You’re doing this?_

_Cockroach Resiliency, like the noble cockroach minor things like injury will not keep you down. You now regenerate._

I had to fight to keep a straight face, I mean this was one of the advantages of having an angel working with you was that they could tell what abilities you had and if you picked up anything new, unlike the trial and error other Heretics had to use, but really? Also … 

_Noble cockroach?_

_Compared to a Peridle they are downright elegant._

_I … I cannot argue with that._ On one hand I need to take this monster fighting thing seriously … on the other hand I was basically a video game character that powered up from killing things, and I couldn’t deny that parts of that were pretty cool. Though still, Cockroach Resiliency? I may have to ban Theia from naming things. 

* * *

Avalon was waiting when I got out with an even larger aura of Dark Magic Girl than normal, even by her standards she was looking downright gloomy. 

She looked at me when I walked up, obviously thinking though a few things, “So, do you want to change roommates?” 

That stopped me dead, “Ah … I didn’t think I did _that_ badly in the fight. You’re wanting somebody who can hold their own better?” I mean seriously, I kicked ass. 

I could see the gears slipping as she tried to recover the conversation, “I meant I thought you’d want to move away from me to be safe.” 

_Theia?_

_You wouldn’t have been in that ambush if she wasn’t your roommate. I mean assuming they were even really after her in the first place._

I replied to both of them, “That’s stupid. I mean even if we assume you were the real target and this wasn’t some kind of false flag, you’re the most dangerous person in first year. Why wouldn’t I want to be your roommate, sure we probably should practice group tactics more.” I sighed, “Look, you know my history, I had Fossor go after me when I was a child. Are you seriously going to tell me that anyone going after you is more dangerous than that? You’re the one that should be wanting to get clear.” 

Avalon took a bit to think about that, “Well … I’m not moving out. You realise I’m going to want to train you extra hard if you’re hanging around.” 

I snorted, “Oh, it’s worse than that. Our entire group is going to be a target … I’m about to do something truly horrible and force the rest of our team to start training to what you and Theia think is an acceptable standard.” 

_Felicity, I’m getting this weird sensation that I’ve never felt before. I think it’s called joy._

She sighed, “Because that’s going to make me more popular with them.” 

“Eh, they’ll live. Which is the entire point of the exercise. Does mean you should probably tell them about the background, assuming it isn’t already all over the school.” 

That just got a harumph. “Oh, and you were holding back in that fight, I could tell.” 

“And you weren’t? I know you have to have more exotic powers than I saw you use. You know after this Professor Katarian is going to work us extra hard. Oh, do you know where the Athletic Accolades hall is?” 

She blinked, then nodded, “Second floor … this way.” 

As we walked along she asked in a more careful tone, “That warning right at the start … that didn’t sound like you. Was that Theia?” 

“Yeah, my super-powered paranoid side. She realised before I did and it was quicker for her to say it.” 

There was a pause. “I … didn’t realise she could talk.” Another pause, “That Theia could talk … ah, hello?” 

Theia borrowed my mouth, “Good morning Miss Sinclair. At some point I’m curious what a sparring session when you and Felicity aren't both holding back would look like.” 

Unsurprisingly that silenced Avalon for a bit. Theia had that effect on people. 

“Yes, that would be interesting … ah, we’re here.” 

_Heh._

_Be nice, it can be a bit to get used to. Dad still isn’t used to it._

We'd gotten to a long, curved corridor full of trophy cases. They had the normal kinds of trophies, medals, and ribbons that I was accustomed to, and there were also other kinds, mostly involving weapons. I saw a dagger with a bone handle resting on a plaque that read, ‘Sanjay Rahaln: Serpopard Slayer’ and a golden mace with the name Connor Paulson attached to it, along with what looked like the dates he attended the school. It was forty years earlier. 

_There._

Avalon gave me a weird look as I walked past her, I wasn't quite sure what my expression was. Almost on reflex I pulled my phone out and took a picture of what Theia had seen, an ancient black and white photograph, "Avalon, you might find this interesting. The graduating class of 1922." 

She didn't stop her weird look but leaned over to look at the picture, "What's special about it?" 

I tapped one person in the picture, right in the front row, "Joselyn Atherby. My mother." 


	18. Reconnaissance 3.04

[Thursday, September 7, 2017] 

Avalon just looked at the picture for a bit, “Your mother was at Crossroads almost a century ago?” 

“Yep.” I gave Avalon a sharp smile, “We should get back, the others will be worried. I expect this picture won’t be here when we get back, “ I looked up and spoke to the ceiling, “That may be for the best.” 

She didn’t say anything else till we were outside. We’d missed two classes during the interviews and it was about halfway through lunchtime so we were heading for the cafeteria. 

“You already knew.” 

“You will find that this place is built on secrets, you have yours and I have mine. There are spells at work, some of the people that know what’s going on can’t talk about it because we wouldn’t remember them telling us.” I gave her a glance, “Your mother is one of them. She’s been dancing around this, leaking as much as she can to me without triggering the memory spells.” 

“Mother knows?” 

I sighed, “There is a lot going on, I don’t know how much is safe to tell you and I’m not sure if I can tell you some things without running into spells or security. I’m not kidding when I say that I can’t rule out I was the target today and you were just the excuse.” 

Avalon thought on that for a bit, “Shit.” She took a deep breath, “Lots of training then.” 

I nodded firmly, “Yes, lots of training.” 

* * *

We got a lot of looks when we entered the cafeteria, there had been plenty of time for word to get around after all. Sands was waving to us from the table the rest of the team had taken over, and nobody else caused us any trouble when we went over. Lots of attention though, and some of it was feeling pretty unfriendly. 

Felt like being with Randi all over again back at school. So ya know, to hell with them. 

The others had saved a couple of menu sheets for us, Sands saying “Aunt Ginny said you’d be out before the end of lunch, here, order quickly.” 

Vanessa quietly asked, “Are you two okay?” 

I had to think on that, “Physically yes … I don’t think they ever got a solid hit on me.” I looked down at where an old scar of mine had vanished, “Technically I’m healthier than I was at the start of the fight. The fight was … honestly not the worst I’ve had. Lots of them and we were trapped but no moral dilemmas, no real confusion, and Avalon is badass enough I didn’t have to worry too much about keeping my blasts controlled.” 

I stopped talking and considered. “Is it terrible that I enjoyed that fight? Just a nice clear ‘smash critters, don’t die’. It turns out I’m good at smash critters and don’t die. I’m mostly bothered by not being bothered about if it that makes sense. I might need to talk with Klassin about that.” 

_It’s the first time we’ve really had a chance to just use our abilities. To really cut loose and not feel guilty or bad about the after effects._ She paused in thought, _I don’t like hurting or killing things, but I like to feel powerful, that I’m in control and that nothing can stop me._ Given her history that made sense. 

Scout reached out and gave my hand a squeeze. It helped. 

Things went quiet after that as we ate, the others having long finished their meals. Finally Avalon looked around the table, “I’m assuming you heard the rest?” 

Shiori blinked, “They are saying that you used to be at Eden’s Garden, that’s why somebody tried to kill you and Flick.” 

Avalon took a breath, “Yeah. Is that going to be a problem?” 

Vanessa shrugged, “I’m okay with it.” 

Shiori nodded, “I’m … this place isn’t easy to deal with, the fact you used to be working for another group before you game here is really low on my list of problems right now.” 

Avalon smirked a little, “Fair enough.” Then she looked at the two people who had grown up in a ‘Crossroads Good, Garden Bad’ mindset. Not that I had any concerns myself. 

The twins looked at each other before Sands asked, “Look, I just have one question and it’s a really important one.” She paused for effect before asking, “Is the Tree really as amazing as people say?” 

That got a surprised laugh out of Avalon. “Yes, yes it really is. It’s … it’s amazing and I miss it, a tree the size of a city, a big city. Like nothing else you’ve ever seen. I might be able to find you pictures.” 

Another shared glance, Scout smirking at something. Sands shook her head at her twin then looked back at us, “We’d love to see them. Though I don’t think we can get away with Scout’s idea to put a picture in that part of the handout, that might be pushing people a bit _too_ far.” 

Scout spoke up, “Funny though.” Which got a nod from her sister. 

“Yeah, would be funny.” 

I stepped in while Avalon was dealing with not having her team upset with her, “To get a bit more serious. Somebody tried to murder Avalon and me. Next time they try they might hit other members of the team, or even go for all of us at once. The smart thing to do would be to transfer to another team that’s less likely to be a target.” 

_Because the kind of people that become Heretics are totally rational._

“But I’m assuming you won’t do the smart thing, so we go onto plan B. You know how hard Avalon and I have been training?” 

That got a wince from the other four. 

Shiori muttered, “I guess I _did_ choose Hunter Track.” 

“I mean it will make da happy we’re taking this seriously.” Was the contribution from the twins. 

Vanessa sighed, “Exploring other worlds is dangerous so more training is good … I guess.” She had the tone of somebody trying to convince herself. 

I rubbed my hands together, “Well, the voice inside my head that tells me to train harder will be happy. This means we expect to see you bright and early at the start of training.” 

_Heh. Heh. Heh._

* * *

[Friday, September 8, 2017] 

Sands panted, “Ya know, the idea of somebody killing all of us so seeming much less scary now.” 

Avalon didn’t even dignify that with a reply. I commented, “You didn’t have to go all out like Avalon does.” 

“You did.” 

I gave her a raised eyebrow, “I’m crazy, I mean I have a piece of paper that says it and everything. I may not be the best role model here.” 

_The voices inside your head have taken a vote and we’ve agreed you’re sane._

_You need to stop getting jokes from dad._

Avalon spoke up, “Also Chambers and I have better regeneration than you do, we can get away with pushing harder.” 

Scout’s comment was, “More sweat, less blood.” And that seemed to answer it for everyone. 

* * *

The views here were never not amazing. I had eaten lunch quickly and then wandered off to find somewhere quiet to just enjoy watching the sea, something I still hadn’t gotten used to. 

_So, what’s wrong? I found somewhere quiet._

_We had a visitor last night._

Shit. _How bad?_

_Technically good. Latest attempt to work out why you can’t be possessed, and this time they actually checked to see if there was another angel inside you. Took them long enough._

Many years ago while I slept, one of the Imperium’s top scientists, and the woman in charge of controlling Eden’s Garden for the Imperium, had snuck into my room and spent several hours trying to possess me and work out why she couldn’t. At no point had it apparently occurred to her to do the most basic check to see if there was somebody in their already. For the second largest force in known space the angels had some weird blind spots and were amazingly bad at trying to deal with rogue members of their own species. 

It honestly was good for her she didn’t try anything that might have worked. Theia was watching her the entire time and ready to incinerate her the moment it looked like she might have really found something out. That would have itself caused problems, but less than our secret getting out would. 

_Given that we’re not running for our lives right now I’m guessing the plan worked then? They used the expulsion rune?_

In the Imperium’s defense I did have to admit that it’s very hard to find an angel inside someone. Even they didn’t have casual methods for it, Crossroads not being able to find Theia in me wasn’t _just_ because their detection methods were sabotaged. There were two quick ways to do it in the field but neither was perfect. The most simple was to try and possess the target. If you bounced, there might be somebody else in there. You didn’t even need to actually jump in, you could just ‘ping’ them to see if there was room. 

However that had the downsides that an angel needed to do it with their own body, no doing it though a host unless the host also had possession abilities. If there was another angel in there they would _know_ you had just pinged them, and there were things that would cause a false positive. This was very good in our case because we’d somehow managed to convince them that this was one of the other cases. Even Theia was confused by how well it had worked. 

The other quick and dirty method was a simple little spell that forced an angel out of their current host. You drew a fairly complex glyph on the host, put energy in, and instant ejection. Theia was in the process of teaching me it. Downsides to it was that the act of drawing it was quite painful to the host and it was very distinctive, so any angel knew it was coming and could send out a warning to their friends, or try to murder you. 

_Yep. Smarted a bit, but the prepared spell worked perfectly. She thinks you’re clean._

It also fails to work on anyone with Theia’s condition in a weird way. Technically it doesn’t kick an angel out, what it does is make it incredibly painful to stay in the host and makes it very easy for them to eject. Somebody with enough pain resistance could in theory just tough it out, somebody like my sister. 

Have I mentioned I _really really hate her mother_? Because it bares repeating, Theia didn’t get her pain resistance from nowhere. What she was calling ‘smarted a bit’ would be paralyzing agony for most. 

In somebody with no possessor, it flares up then vanishes. In somebody with a possessor it flares up until the angel ejects and then vanishes. Theia _can’t eject_, so it just stays there trying to force her out and hurting her. 

_You know I’m going to want to beat up whoever did that right? They hurt you._

_I’ve had worse … and that’s not going to convince you is it. Look, the spell worked, they think there can’t possibly be anyone inside you. It’s all good. I’ve already recast the fake out._

The countermeasure her mom came up with was simple. A prepared spell that waited for the expulsion rune to fire off then triggered an illusion of it flaring up and vanishing and hid the real rune while quietly erasing it over the next few seconds. 

Simple, elegant, apparently effective, and just had the downside that it put my sister though agony when it went off. Somebody was going to get a beating at the very least over this when I got the chance. 

_I don’t suppose you recognise them._ Please don’t be somebody she knows. 

_So, funny thing._

Shit. Anyone Theia could recognize was probably very very bad news. 

_Never met her face to face, but I know what all of mom and mother’s old crew look like. It was Nemesis._

Oh hell. Both of Theia’s mothers were part of an Imperium elite unit, all of them with unique powers and thousands of years of experience. They’re all some of the most dangerous people around. And on top of that Nemesis was one of the _assassins_ from that group. She used to work with Theia’s mom before she went rogue. 

And now she was at Crossroads. This just got a lot harder. 

* * *

“So how has the ‘available for questions’ thing been working out anyway?” 

I was asking Sands and Scout this as we were walking towards that Pathfinder in the evening. It was going to be our first Track Course so it was only the three of us in the team that were on that track. They happened Monday and Friday evenings, though of course the Monday one had been skipped due to Orientation. Also I really would have been in no state for it. 

Sands smiled, “Not too badly, we’ve been getting a bunch of questions from the Kin and even a few from other Born. Turns out not everyone’s parents told them everything they should have, we’ve been getting requests for more of the pamphlets too. Da said that Professor Neal has been grumbling about it in staff meetings but it sounds like he’s given up on trying to stop us. I bet this has sped up them trying to get the official one done though. Which of course won’t be as cool as ours.” 

_He is still a poor replacement for Larissa. She would have helped them write something like this and made it the official one._

“You should totally put an actual picture of the Eden’s Garden Tree in the next version.” 

“There is such a thing as pushing it too far.” Though the thumbs up from Scout gave me when I made the suggestion showed the sisters weren’t in total agreement there. 

“What is the weirdest question so far?” 

Sands gave me a look, “We are a confidential service, though I will say some of the more involved ones have been a few people trying to track down people from their visions.” 

Scout added, “We may do lectures.” 

“So stuff you’re getting enough questions about that it’s easier to do a class on it?” 

Sands nodded, “Yeah, like money for example. Might see if we can convince Professor Carfried to do a side course on that one, it’s not complex but it’s technically teaching magic, so … “ 

I understood, “This is the magic batteries used as currency thing?” 

“Yeah, Enners. I mean it makes sense, you can use magic or powers to create pretty much anything else so there really isn’t anything rare enough to be valuable, but common enough to use as money, so may as well just trade magical energy directly. I mean, there isn’t much to spend it on at this point in the year, which is why they don’t bother teaching it for a while but it’s another part of understanding the society.” 

_We could do with some of those, I’m not short on magical power, and that’s all you need for making money around here._ I could feel her studying them through me, _Listen to them, thinking about what will help people understand things better, and even why society does things differently from Bystanders. Larissa would be so damn impressed by them, I know I am._

_If she’s alive, we will find her. And she was with your mom, she’s going to still be alive._

_I miss her Felicity, I miss her so much. Both of them._

Just as we got to the Pathfinder we heard a voice from behind us say, “I’m pleased to hear that you will be involving staff for any practical lessons. Otherwise I might have to have words.” 

Sands jumped, Scout and I just looked over to see Professor Dare looking amused as she glided past us. 

Our teacher got the attention of the group before continuing. "Good evening. You all know me, so I shall skip the introduction. It is now seven o’clock, the time that you will be expected to be in the location that I give you for this meeting every Monday and Friday from now on. I will not say that excuses for being late will not be accepted. However, I will say that if you give no excuse, the punishment for your tardiness will be less severe than if you attempt to give one and I find it lacking. For those who find that confusing, allow me to simplify. If your excuse for tardiness is a valid and reasonable one, I will accept it. If it is not and you attempt to use it anyway, your punishment will be worse than if you had said nothing. Is all of that understood?" 

_I like her, I wish she wasn't probably on the other side._

_Still your best guess?_

_I mean she's who I'd pick with the security head as my second choice. After that, I'm not sure, but I'd focus on members of Gaia’s inner circle. It only makes sense._

"As you all know, this is the Investigation track. Here, you will learn to investigate possible Stranger incursions and other situations, identify both new and established threats, and deal directly with the Bystander law enforcement. We have multiple ways of doing this, but one of our most important tools is lying. You will lie a lot. You should not feel ashamed of this. Lying keeps these people safe, and prevents them from making our jobs far more difficult." 

Well this was going to be hard for me, I could see that now. Me being such a paragon of honesty as I was. 

“Tonight, you will be given an opportunity to witness one of several ways that the Pathfinder building is used to aid us in these investigations. You will stay with me, you will touch nothing that you are not told to touch, and you will not disturb the people who are working. Is that understood as well?” 

_Annoyingly there are things that building does that I don't know about either. If it gets past 'open a portal somewhere' we'll need to find someone that actually knows how it works._

_Still good to know we have another escape route._

Once Dare was sure we'd gotten the point she disarmed the humming warding circle with a quick series of words that should have been impossible to follow, and after the air had shimmered a bit she guided us into the building. People were treating the line with respect, so I guess Sands and Scout had given them 'the talk' about what happens if you mess with it. Theia had already memorized the sequence from my day trips here of course. 

I was very familiar with the lobby by now, a small and circular room with a desk in the corner. The woman behind it smiled as we entered, “Good evening, Virginia. This is the new class?” 

Before Professor Dare could respond, a group of men came right through the same doors we had just entered from, bustling straight past us in a rush. They barely slowed long enough to nod an acknowledgment to the secretary before moving on to one of a handful of doors that lined the circular wall. 

“Hey, where the hell did those guys come from?” Koren spoke up. “Seriously, we were just out there.” 

The woman behind the desk glanced down at something before responding, “They came from Indiana, actually.” 

Professor Dare explained. “The Pathfinder building exists within multiple locations at the same time. Its existence on the island is only one of a dozen or so locations across the world that it simultaneously occupies.” 

I leaned over to the twins, "We really need to put a page or two in the handout about this." 

Sands rolled her eyes, "You would not _believe_ how tetchy some people get about including anything about here. Risks of somebody outside the school getting their hands on it has been brought up." 

It was the receptionist who spoke up, her tone bemused, "Sweetie, we need to keep some things inside the knowledge. It's bad enough if the Garden read it, let alone Strangers." 

_Yeah, it would be terrible if a Stranger was to sneak through here. That would be bad._

Professor Dare ignored Sands's exaggerated eye-roll at that and started walking to one of the doors. “Come, I will show you one of the reasons that the Pathfinder building is so important to our work.” 

Together, we trailed after the professor, following her through a series of hallways and up two flights of stairs. We passed about another dozen people that were hard at work doing… whatever they were doing before we finally reached a short, out of the way hall with a single door. 

“This,” Professor Dare announced, “Is one of several projection rooms in this facility.” 

One of the others, I hadn't caught their name, asked the obvious question, "What's a projection room?" 

I was only listening with half an ear, if the twins weren't allowed to talk about this Theia had been quite happy to give me the rundown. Long story short Crossroads had a thing called a Panoptic Analysis Window System, or PAWS, which was a flying golf-ball sized sensor. Set it loose in an area and it will fly around, while invisible, and grab a three dimensional scan of the area, including looking through walls and closed containers. Once they had it you could play the area back as an interactive solid 'hologram' in a projection room. 

It let people like they were training us to be sneak in ahead of proper authorities, grab a copy of the area without anyone knowing, even while people were in there, and look at it at our leisure. It even grabbed magical signatures from the area. One of the many things that would be super useful to Bystanders if we could tell them about it, so another reason to be annoyed at the Imperium for the Bystander Effect existing. It wasn't like we could just hand a PAWS over to a cop, they would want to know how it worked and we couldn't explain it without getting into magic or other kinds of impossible hypertech. 

_Pay attention._

Dare continued, “Now, as a group, we are going to investigate one of these recorded crime scenes.” Professor Dare gazed at us briefly before continuing. “Together, we will see what we can determine as a group before reviewing what conclusions the assigned investigators have come to.” 

I held a hand up, “I'm sure I'm going to regret asking this, but what kind of crime scene is it, Professor?”. 

She paused, glancing to me before responding. “An incident that occurred at a gas station. A man, who was believed to have attempted to rob the store was found shot in the back multiple times, presumably by the clerk. The clerk herself then exited the store, duct taped the gasoline nozzle into her own mouth, and proceeded to kill herself by choking on the gas.” 

Collectively, we stared. I felt sick inside, and somewhere nearby, one of the boys muttered a curse under his breath. Beside me, Scout gave a soft whimper. 

_Well that's creatively ghastly. Even mother didn't come up with something like that._

_That is really not helping._

“These are the situations we will be dealing with. I will not coddle you from them because to do so would be a disservice to your education and training. If you do not wish to continue, you may at any point speak up and be excused to re-evaluate your track.” Professor Dare spoke seriously, then put her hand on the doorknob. “Now, come. Let us see how much information you can find as a group.” 

She opened the door, allowing us to enter the horrific scene. I took a breath, steeled myself, and then stepped through. 


	19. Reconnaissance 3.05

[Friday, September 8, 2017] 

Dad was a very good reporter and he'd reported on a lot of what I'd once thought were the worst things in the world. He believed that people needed to know about these things, that he could drag them into the light and educate people about what was really out there. To say the least he'd not been overjoyed when he found out just how much more was going on out there in the world and how much of it was literally impossible to tell people about. 

It was dangerous, what he'd done. There was a reason that when he decided to mostly retire from that kind of thing he'd moved to the middle of nowhere. Somewhere that it wasn't worth the effort for gangs and other criminals to track him down. Theia and I were pretty sure that even if some had they would have tripped over the various people watching over our family and either been sent away or just vanished. 

The irony of him then marrying mom, who had people after her on a scale that made anyone after dad look like a joke was not lost on us. Some things you kind of have to try and laugh about or you won't stop screaming. 

The point of all of this is that dad never got rid of his case notes. He hid them, but not well enough that I didn't find them when I was twelve. Even then I'd known what I wanted to be, a reporter, just like dad. The kind of person that could look at the worst of the world and keep their cool, write it down and record it so that they could tell people, shine that light into the dark places so people would know. 

I hadn't been ready for what I found, I really hadn't, but I'd made myself look at them, to get used to them, so I would be ready when I ran into that in the real world. And then I'd met Theia, and more recently gotten a bit of an idea of what her mother had put her thought. That had been worse, apparently being thousands of years old gives you a lot of time to come up with truly horrific ideas. 

As I stepped out into the projection of the crime scene I couldn't help but think this was the kind of thing I'd been training myself for. To be able to look at something like this and not be impassive, but to be able to see past the horror and understand what had happened. When I was younger that was so I could understand and report it, pass that understanding to the readers. Now it was so I could know what had done this, who had done this, and help _end them_. 

I knew all Alters weren't evil, that with a few rare exceptions there was nothing inherent in an Alter's species that made them go out and be evil. That just made me all the more determined to find the bad ones, the Nocen, the ones that made Heretics think they were justified in what they did and remove them. Because something like this? This was willful evil, somebody had chosen to do this, and my only worry about Crossroads going after them was that no innocent Alters got caught in the crossover. 

None of this had made me ready for what I saw when I stepped into the projection. 

The projection itself was perfect, it was just like we were outside, we could see the surrounding area, the sky overhead, and of course the station itself. The only oddity was the door we'd stepped out of hanging right at the edge of the parking lot. I wished it had been less perfect as I looked at the poor girl on the ground with the gas nozzle duct taped into her mouth. 

I could feel myself wanting to throw up and managed to keep it down but it was a close thing. Theia was being quiet but I could feel her focus, analyzing everything in a way I couldn't bring myself to do yet. This wasn't as bad as I felt after the vampires, but it was close. 

_Deep breaths Felicity._

Beside me, I heard Koren gasp the words, “Oh my god….”, then she caught my arm and squeezed. I looked over to see her staring at the dead girl. Her eyes were wide with shock, and I saw a bit of dampness leak through the corners. Koren worked her mouth with a small, barely audible whine, and I could almost see the bile making its way up her throat. 

_So that's how normal people react to things like this._ Theia's tone was honest curiosity. 

Wincing, I turned to grab the girl’s arm, turning her away from the scene and bending her over slightly even as her body started to heave. I helped support her as she threw up, finding myself repeating Theia's words once she finished, "Deep breaths, just close your eyes and focus on breathing. In, out, ... " 

Koren spat a couple of times to clear her mouth and was following my instructions. She finally opened her eyes again, shuddering a little and giving me a confused look, "You've done this before?" 

"I've been on the receiving end of this before. Feeling any better?" 

She seemed to come back to herself and pulled away with a mumbled, “I’m fine.” Her face was flushed with embarrassment, which stood out a lot against her naturally pale skin. 

My voice was quiet, "No you're not, this is a really messed up situation and you're having a normal reaction to it. You should have seen me after that vampire fight I was in, I threw up a lot." 

“Here,” the voice of Professor Dare spoke up, and I saw her offering a glass of water to Koren, along with a napkin for her face. “If you need to take a break, you can go back through the door and sit down for a few minutes.” Raising her voice then, she added, “That goes for everyone. Go back to the other side and give yourself a break if you need it. No one is going to shame you for it. The fact that seeing something like this makes you sick is a good thing, and is not to be mocked. Any person that I see doing something like that will be in my office every day after classes for the rest of the month.” 

Once that was acknowledged, the blonde woman gestured. “Look around, trust your instincts and see what you can find. You can touch things in here and move them around. The scene can be reset by the lead investigator, in this case that would be me, so do not worry about disturbing things. Look around as much as you like and then we will all discuss what we believe happened here.” 

I looked around, “So normally the first thing I would do is check any security recordings … do we have access to those?” 

Smiling faintly, Professor Dare gestured. “The PAWS system automatically copies any recordings within the area and will play them accordingly, yes. I suggest you look inside the office for that.” 

_Sands is not dealing with this well, Sarah is ... doing quite a bit better._

I looked over to confirm what Theia had picked up from a glance, Sands was just staring at the girl's body, unable to look away. A moment later Scout shifted to look at me and subtly put herself between her sister and the corpse. I took a breath, "Sands, Scout, do you want to check the video? I'll be along in a moment, I just want to confirm something here." 

They vanished off into the station proper and I walked over to the dead girl with the gas nozzle pushed into her mouth and secured with what looked like an entire roll of duct tape. 

_There is no way she did that to herself, it's not physically possible._

_Yeah, I picked up on that._

I had no idea what I must have looked like, just standing there next to the other students around her. Theia had, when she'd been in her own body, gotten very good at hiding her reactions as a self-defense mechanism. I'd picked up some of that by osmosis, dad has said that I got this disturbingly blank look when I was trying to hide my reactions and be 'professional'. Apparently it was enough that the other students shuffled out of the way, so I suppose it had its uses. 

_Where did the blood come from?_

The girl, no, her nametag read Denise and could do her the respect of using her name, _Denise's_ clothing was splattered in blood but what little I could see of her was unmarked aside from the blood. I really didn't want to have to check more closely ... maybe I didn't have to. 

I looked around to see our teacher had decided to keep a watch on our group, "Ah, Professor. I assume the actual investigators did forensics. Was Denise injured?" 

Professor Dare shook her head, "No, her only injuries were some damage to her teeth around the nozzle and of course the drowning." 

I had to pause for a moment to deal with the mental image I got from that. This was so horrific. 

_This is a very involved way to kill somebody. You don't do this casually unless there is something very wrong with you, not even most nocen would do this if it wasn't personal._

"Thank you." I headed into the store, not so much for more information but I needed to be anywhere but where I could see poor Denise. Behind me I could hear some sounds that made me think I wasn't the only one to get an image they didn't want from that. 

Inside wasn't much better, there was a trail of blood across the room to the back coolers, where the second body lay in a heap. Remnants of both the glass of the coolers, and their contents covered the body, mixing with the blood. I ignored him for the moment and went behind the counter. 

_More blood. That's not shooting or stab wounds, that's what you get when somebody is beaten bloody._ Thiea knew entirely too much about that. She wasn't wrong though, and I could even see a few teeth that had been knocked free by what could have only been a savage beating. 

Professor Dare had drifted into the store by this point, answering questions from various people. I waited till see was free and then asked, "The blood and teeth there, was that from Denise?" 

"Yes." Either she wasn't affected much by any of this, or her professionalism mask was a lot better than mine. I honestly wasn't sure which. 

One of the other students blinked, "Teeth ... oh, oh ick." They weren't wrong there either. I think by this point Theia was helping me stay focused. 

I got out from behind and started to think about what must have happened. Robber had come in with a gun, tried to rob the store ... got shot in the back several times. I walked over to look at him, he hadn't fallen into the coolers, he'd collapsed in front of them, the damage to them had been entirely from the bullets passing through him. 

_Six shots, no misses so either at very short range or highly trained. No signs of him moving, trying to get away or turn ... so either somebody emptied the gun as fast as they could and still managed to hit with everything, or he held still while being killed. That kind of shooting is possible even for a well trained Bystander let alone some Alters, but it's odd. Also check his hands._

Theia's forensics skill was distinctly specialized into two areas. You want her to get fingerprints or examine gun residue and you were out of luck. What she knew about was far too much on what various forms of damage looked like on living and dead bodies, and how to not leave any forensics. I wasn't going to doubt her painfully acquired skills in those two areas. She was right about his hands too, bruised, and covered in blood in a way that looked like he'd been hitting somebody. 

I looked for the Professor and before I could even ask she answered my obvious question, "Yes residue from firing the gun was found on her hands. No she didn't have a notable background in shooting." Which was pretty much what I wanted to know and showed how much checking proper investigators would do. 

I thanked her and moved more towards the middle of the room to think. I was distracted a bit when the twins showed up, Sands taking the lead, "So the footage is mostly missing, there is a twenty minute gap from when the Stranger arrived to when they left. Strangers will do things like that to recording gear, either just kill it, or make it really fuzzy. But we did find their car in the footage and got the license plate number Professor." 

Dare's head dipped in acknowledgment. “An excellent use of resources and well-spotted, Miss Masons. You’ve done well so far. And… precisely what the investigators assigned to this case have already found.” She gave a smile at their collective wince. “Do not feel bad. The fact that you’ve done precisely what the Runners on this case have done should not be a cause for embarrassment, but pride. Our investigators know their jobs. Of course they would think to do exactly what you just did. Be proud that you thought the way that they do, not ashamed that you have not single-handedly created a whole new avenue of investigation.” 

The professor moved off to help Travis and Rudolph over by the cash register. The two of them had apparently found Denise’s purse. 

"I don't think she was a planned target, this is ... somebody was messing around here with mind control." 

Sands asked with honest curiosity, "Why do you think that?" 

I waved a hand around the room, "The robber walks in with a gun, then tries to beat Denise, the shop assistant, to death to the point of damaging his hands. This is despite having a gun." I waved towards the parking apron, "And I'll note that despite all the damage Denise has no damage on her now so something healed her up, including replacing teeth. Then she takes the robbers gun and empties it into his back, which he just stands there for. Finally she goes outside and then somebody wraps her up in tape because she couldn't physically do that to herself, not with her hands being the first thing to get taped up." 

_Just take a breath Felicity._

Talking about the sequence had made me _think_ about it and I was feeling ill again. "So yeah ... somebody came in, spent twenty minutes torturing I'm guessing both of them using mind control, and then just leaves. This doesn't feel personal, this feels like somebody having fun, getting these people to hurt and kill each other just because they could." 

_There is a reason that Crossroads and Garden Heretics find it easy to believe that all Alters are Nocen, you don't need many like whoever came here to make them think they are all like this._

_Let's call this one what they were. A Stranger, something that hurts for no reason but it can, this wasn't an Alter or a Nocen, this was a _Stranger_._

_Felicity, why did you just pick those items up?_

I looked down to find myself holding a candy bar and a bottle of orange soda. 

Sands smirked, "You need a snack for when we get back?" 

My tone got very calm, "Professor, I think I may have found something." 

Apparently the twins knew that kind of 'something is wrong, so we're going to be extra calm now' tone because they shared a worried look. Dare knew it too, "What is wrong Miss Chambers?" 

I held up the items, "I have no idea why I just picked these up. I don't even like these flavors, nor did I notice I was holding them till Theia told me." 

Dare's face got that same slightly forced calmness as she pulled and item out to check me, "There ... may be a trace of something? If it's there it's very subtle ... ah, this wasn't Theia?" 

My nose wrinkled a bit and I spoke in an accent not my own, or to be fair Theia's real one either. "I dislike snack-food in general Professor Dare, so I would not have grabbed it. The best comparison I can give is it felt like the few occasions that Felicity has gone sleepwalking." 

Technically this wasn't the first time she'd heard Theia, but this was the first time she'd talked directly with my older sister and she took it pretty well. Both of the twins were listening with obvious interest, while other students were looking confused. As for the sleepwalking, that had been another useful cover when Theia needed to do something while I was asleep and got caught at it. 

The Professor nodded, "I will have this checked. I'm curious why those items." 

Koren wandered over, "So Flick is apparently crazy, but she's also onto something." She'd grabbed a paper that two other students had been examining, both of them following along after her with some confusion and annoyance. She ignored them to hold the paper up, which reported the last thing Denise had sold before she died, the exact same orange soda and candy bar I was holding. 

I got my voice back to say, "Huh. Professor, I think there are shenanigans afoot." 

_And we know what happens when shenanigans are afoot._

_It _has_ been a bit since I went full annoying girl reporter on somebody._

One of the boys that had followed Koren had to ask, "Why did it sound like somebody else was talking there?" 

I rolled my eyes, "I have an imaginary friend, but they do cool things like spot ambushes and used to let me see though the Bystander Effect, so it's a useful kind of crazy." It's amazing how just going straightforward with your response could throw off somebody that was about to make fun of you. 

Koren was frowning at her bit of paper, "So you really hadn't seen this? You were behind the counter." 

The same boy spoke up, "She couldn't have, Travis and I were in the way the entire time she was looking around." He shrugged when everyone looked at him, "Hey, I took this track for a reason, I can notice things." 

The Professor spoke up, "It's possible that there is some kind of link between Miss Chambers and either the entity involved, or one of the victims. I'll ask the Runners to do a more detailed scan of those items in case there is something they can find." 

I absently said, "I'm guessing the Stranger ... they were the one carrying the items. Robber wouldn't have a reason to buy stuff, and I don't see why this would be something tied to Denise." 

Koren blinked, "Who? Oh, you mean the dead girl?" 

"Her name was Denise, show some respect." I handed the two items to the Professor, "I think I'll take you up on that offer to step out for a bit, if I stay around here much longer I'm going to start screaming and not stop for a while. Ah ... Professor, we don't think it was ..." 

She shook her head, "This isn't his style, his casual cruelty is different." She had a tone that made sure nobody was going to ask a follow-up question. 

As I walked out Theia asked, _Some other time you should ask her about her encounters with him. She might be willing to talk to us, given the history._

_Not now, I'm ... I need to just sit down and not think for a bit._

I hope they find whoever did this Denise, I hope they can find you some closure. 

* * *

[Saturday, September 9, 2017] 

“So all of this is in a giant cave?” Mary sounded fascinated and I couldn’t blame her. 

Sands nodded, “Yeah, more like a really huge tunnel but you get the idea.” 

Scout switched to another picture on the large TV, normally used for gaming, that she’d co-opted. We were having the first unofficial 'Bystander's Guide to Crossroads' meeting, down at one end of the common area next to the cafeteria. 

On the screen was a picture of a large street with buildings to either side. But beyond those buildings and above them was the rocky, dirt walls and ceiling of the cavern Mary had been asking about. This was J Street, the 'missing' street in Washington DC, buried beneath the city and the 'capital' of Crossroads Society. 

Harper, and yes I'd finally gotten around to getting Sands to give me a rundown on who the other Bystander-Kin were, grinned at the picture, "That is so random." 

She wasn't wrong, the place looked… eclectic. That was the best word I had for it. The buildings looked like they had each been plucked from a very different time period before being tossed down next to one another. There was a very modern looking tall glass office structure right next to what looked like an old west saloon. Beside that there was a building with a bunch of pillars out front and one of those naked statues that the Romans and Greeks liked so much. I even caught sight of a long log house like there would have been on the American frontier. Every type of building was represented somewhere along this enormous, twisting tunnel. 

And the people. Oh God, the people. I had thought that Crossroads personnel looked pretty modern, given how long a lot of them had lived. But this place more than made up for it. I could see people of every possible type of clothing style. There were cowboys, samurai, Victorian-dressed people, a few with clothes out of the 1920’s, 50’s, and even the 80’s, and more. All over the area in the picture there were people that looked different. It was like… it was like there were a whole bunch of movies being filmed somewhere nearby, and all the extras had wandered off set. 

_It’s a place I’d like to visit sometime, with any luck we’ll get the chance._

That got a laugh from Sands, “I always think Bystander cities look very plain. They’ll probably take us on a field-trip there by the end of the year, but I figured no issues in giving all of you a preview.” 

Koran spoke up, “Hey, Avalon, Eden’s Garden is different to this though, right?” 

The group was mostly Bystander-Kin, with a few interested or bored Heretic-Born watching, including Avalon. She gave Koran a cutting look which totally failed to set Koran on fire but then relented a little, “We have everything in one place, the Tree is our … their version of J Street, Crossroads, and where most people live. It’s not just city sized, it holds several cities in its branches.” Her expression was wistful for a moment until she caught herself and went back to her normal impassiveness. 

A new voice cut across, “If you miss it so much you should have stayed there.” 

I looked up to see another Heretic-Born that had decided to butt in, he was one of the other students in my year, a thin and aristocratic looking guy with hawkish features and a thin nose with a golden stud in it that was shaped like a heart. 

“Zeke, do you have to?” Sands had a tone of tired annoyance. 

He ignored Avalon to look at Sands with an odd expression, “I still don’t know why you’re spending all your time playing with the Silverstones.” 

Unexpectedly it was Scout that replied, “Mom would have wanted us to.” 

Apparently he didn’t have a good reply for that, or Scout talking threw him off enough that all he could do was give an annoyed humph and walk off. 

Sands shook herself, “So, anyway, if Scout brings up the next picture, this is the Runner HQ, the Crossroads central police station … “ 

I settled back to listen and watch, and wished all my problems could be solved with a simple topic change like that. 


	20. Reconnaissance 3.06

[Tuesday, September 12, 2017] 

_That’s close, a little bit tighter on the curve there, like this._

Theia took my hand over for a moment to show the error I’d made in the symbol. A lot of magic was about drawing symbols that had been given meaning by the people that had created the spell and then putting power into the symbol, but it required exacting precision. Perfect memory helped a lot which made it annoying I hadn’t gotten that yet. It did mean that dad could pick up spells fast though. 

The thing to understand is that magic is weird. 

So you could just wish an effect into existence if you focused hard enough. As I’d mentioned before Theia’s father could do this on the fly but for the rest of us that was a quick way to getting no result or something bad. The safer way to do that was to use an object and ‘wish’ the effect onto it. The object gave the magic something to anchor to and you could take your time building up the effect, also if things went wrong you exploded the object not, say, your brain. 

It was slow, really slow, hard to do, and unreliable. Even most trained Heretics didn’t use what they called Shapeless Magic. It was the marker of somebody that was a serious magical expert and probably went deep into Development Track. Crossroads didn’t try to teach it till the third year, and Theia saw no reason to try and speed up that process for me. 

The weird thing though was that magic could learn. If you did a shapeless spell repeatedly it would become a known spell inside magic itself and not only would you find it easier to do but so would anyone else that followed the same method you used. It was like there was some kind of transuniversal spellbook and anyone could add spells to it if they tried hard enough, which was as I said, pretty weird. 

The next step after Shapeless was what Heretics called Directed Magic, which was a bit of magic that had a ‘theme’. For example, if you wanted to have an object trigger an effect when you threw it into a room, but the specific effect was something you changed on the fly then it was directed. It was a spell that gave you a framework but let you play around inside that framework. As a result it was faster, more efficient, and even if somebody could do Shapeless, a Directed spell that did what they needed was better. This was a second year course for Crossroads. 

Finally, if you keep using a very specific spell enough that magic learns that you get what the Heretics call Forged Magic. This was a single spell with a single effect, there may be a bit of flexibility but generally it did one thing. The first spell we’d been taught was a magical Flashbang, you cast it on some object, designate people you don’t want to be affected, and then throw it and fire it off and everyone else gets hit with the flash. Being able to pick the list of safe people is an example of how far the flexibility of a directed spell can go, and not much further. 

Even an experienced mage, like Theia, would still use Forged spells when she could, because they are by magical standards fast and easy. By magical standards of course, you still needed to be exactingly precise, feed energy to it the right way, and all sorts of other factors, and they took time to set up. 

What I was working on was a pretty simple example of a forged spell, and not one that Crossroads would ever teach. The anti-possession expulsion spell, the same one that Nemesis used to unintentionally torture my sister with. The same one I was hoping to get to use on her at some point and see how she liked it. 

_Okay, that looks correct. Now charge it up._

As spells went this one was extremely direct, draw out the symbol and dump energy into it. Finally for the first time it took the energy and fired, glowing briefly on the bit of wooden board I was using and then vanishing. Yep, this bit of wood was clear of any angels, this was a chunk of board we could trust. 

Probably. 

_Very good, now we’re going to do it again until you can get it correct consistently, and then we can work on your speed._

I bit back a sigh, she wasn’t wrong. I picked up the Field Engraver, a nifty little device that looked like a marker pen and let you draw on almost anything, and got to work. Even better the other end of the engraver could wipe anything it had written, useful to clean up the many failed attempts. 

To be honest, if I had to use this spell things had already gone wrong, which is why I was trying so hard to get it right. 

Things going wrong is a given, it’s how you react to them that tells if you’ll survive. 

* * *

[Saturday, September 16, 2017] 

“Avalon, down!” 

Avalon didn’t even ask and just dropped as a line of lightning flashed over her linking one of Shiori’s gloves to its airborne disc. The disc hit a wall and flipped to stick flat against it, maintaining the line of electricity. A moment later Shiori let the beam vanish, eyes wide, “Shit, oh hell, I’m so sorry Avalon.” 

Now that things were safe Avalon stood up again, her tone dry, “Well, we’ve confirmed that you can create a beam while the discs are airborne … “ her tone got somehow more dry, “We just need to work on making sure you know where the beam will end up when you do so.” 

I commented, “Or at least if you’re going to hit somebody on our side with it, make sure it’s me. I can take it.” 

_Never let it be said you’re not a team player._

Scout facepalmed while Sands was looking almost as horrified as Shiori. “So, you can do the same thing dad’s weapon does, just … it’s a lot harder when it isn’t guided. Sorry Avalon.” 

Avalon shrugged a little, “Nobody got hurt, we just need to learn from this in the future.” 

We were having an impromptu and somewhat off the books group training session. We kinda had permission, our respected team mentor had approved this. Okay, Deveron had said “Yeah sure, whatever, knock yourselves out.” and that totally counted. 

This wasn’t just Avalon teaching the rest of us what she knew about fighting, it was also trying to learn how to work as a team and try out new ideas. 

For all I’d not thought too much of it I’d rapidly learned that Vanessa’s whip was remarkably hard to dodge if you were even a little bit distracted and once it was around you, you were about to take a quick trip to the ground. It also hit really hard, Theia was pretty sure the weight at the tip was doing something interesting with kinetic energy. And having your clothing suddenly acting like a solid chunk of metal had a remarkable ability to stop you in your tracks. 

What we’d just finished trying was a suggestion from Sands. Her father’s weapon was normally a sword but could break apart into a drone and a gun, the gun able to fire beams of electricity to wherever the drone was, through anything in the way. So of course she’d wondered if we could mimic that, and the answer was a very firm … kinda. 

I held my hands up, one towards the disc on the wall, the other towards Shiori, “Well, the good news is the other idea worked fine.” 

Shiroi blinked, then held her hands up. The gems in her glove’s palms flashed and the line reformed between her and the disc, then another line reached out from the disc to me and finally a third leading back from me to her other glove. This had potential though there were some rules to it. The discs and gloves wouldn’t activate until she created a line between her gloves and a disc, and until they were active I couldn’t link in either, so we always had to make sure the first connection was between her and one of her discs. Still given that it let her treat me as another endpoint we had plans to try and make use of that, which was what this practice session was about. 

I let the lines vanish, “So we have one solid win out of that.” 

That almost got her to smile a bit, which was good. She was still so fragile after her vision. Apparently this intense shyness wasn’t normal for her either, according to Sands who had been talking to her brother Columbus. Her edge vision, whatever it was, had scarred her, and none of us were wanting to push her on, least of all me because the last thing I wanted to talk to anyone about was my vision. 

Still, she was looking if not happy at least closer to her new normal self than the shock and horror of almost hitting Avalon, so mission accomplished. Shiori relaxed a bit more as Vanessa came up next to her. From what I could tell that general studious quietness was normal for Vanessa, she also didn’t talk about the details of her vision but she had said it was a happy one. Right now she was also the perfect roommate for Shiori, good at just ‘being there’ without needing something from you. 

_Pay attention._

Ah, Avalon was getting ready to talk. She was leading the training sessions of course, she knew more than any of us, well, more than any of us that had physical bodies. “Right, so we can use that, we just need to get betting at keeping track of where everyone is.” She thought for a moment, “Let’s practice defense and attack some more, Sands, Scout, and Vanessa on defense, the rest of us will be trying to get to Scout. Sands, I want to see you trying out longer weapons more, polearms and the like, keep us back so Vanessa can bring us down and you or Scout can finish it.” 

We started getting into position when the door slammed open and a scrawny guy in a Crossroads security came in, “HA! I’ve caught you.” 

_Oh goddammit, Professor Katarin is going to kill us._

“I knew if I looked enough I’d find the team that was trying to kill the Headmistress’s daughter! But you can’t fool me! Call me obsessed will they, but no, I knew that if I looked around enough I could find the evil backstabbers that would attack other students. Shame on you, shame on you all!” 

_I’m sorry, what?_

There was a long pause as we all just looked at him, trying to process this. Especially Avalon. 

I finally had to look over at her, “Ah, Avalon, are we training to kill you? I mean you’re running this session, if you’re training us to kill you then you have to tell us. I’m pretty sure that’s a rule.” 

Avalon’s tone was indescribable, “No, I’m not training you to kill me.” 

There was a longer pause as the guard blinked at us, apparently recognizing Avalon. “Miss Sinclaire?” 

She raised an eyebrow, just looking at him. 

He paused for a moment then started casting something, pausing a moment later as the rest of us almost on reflex pointed weapons at him, “I just want to verify she’s who she says she is … “ apparently he’d managed to get enough done to satisfy him, “Commendable reflexes though.” He looked around, “Are you supposed to be here?” 

I got my staff down from ‘blast him though the wall’ position, though to be fair he was presumably an experienced Heretic so it probably wouldn’t have worked. “Ah, well you see somebody’s apparently trying to kill our teammate so we wanted to get better at protecting her. We have permission from our mentor. Deveron Adams.” 

The security man frowned, “Oh, him.” 

Avalon was the one to ask the obvious, “Who are you? How do we know you’re not one of the people after me?” 

He blinked at that, now that I’d gotten a better look at him he was … nothing impressive to be honest. He had a scrawny, narrow face and long, stringy brown hair. I guessed his age at around forty or so. “Wyatt Rendel, Crossroads Security … and you don’t, so you should be more careful, you never know who could be after you.” He nodded to himself as if Avalon’s question was the most sensible thing he’d heard today. 

_I like him, he’s both amusing and correct._

After a long pause where none of us really had a reply to that he nodded firmly again, “Well carry on then.” He followed that with a surprisingly neat about-face and marched himself back out of the room. 

There was another pause before Shiori asked, “Did that just happen?” 

Vannessa replied in a bemused tone, “I think so?” 

I couldn’t help scratching my head, “I mean he’s not wrong, there are unknown people after Avalon, so we should be on our guard at all times.” 

_Constant Vigilance._

_Thank you Professor Moody._

Sands frowned at the door, “I’ve heard about him, he’s a bit … odd. Paranoid, thinks everything is out to get him, from what I’ve heard from people.” 

Scout was as quiet as ever, “Sometimes everything is.” 

Everyone gave her a look at that, but she just shrugged at us and didn’t explain further. Even Sands apparently couldn’t read her. 

Avalon shook her head, “Okay, we had a defense to practice.” 

_Paranoia is just having an accurate assessment of the situation._

Sadly I couldn't even say she was wrong. 

* * *

[Sunday, September 17, 2017] 

I smiled at the message from dad on my phone. Sure we could relay to each other though my sisters but this somehow felt more direct and personal, even if we had to filter the conversation to avoid topics he wasn’t supposed to be able to know about. 

“Good news?” 

That was Sands, the team were having another impromptu picnic on the lawns, not far from the Lighthouse. 

I shook my head, “Not as such, but no bad news either. Things are going well back home … oh and Tabitha sent more pictures for her fan-club.” I handed the phone to Sands so she could take a look, joined by her sister and, for a change, Vanessa. 

Sands asked, “Do you know anything about her birth parents?” 

I waggled a hand, “Not much, her mother is in prison _somewhere_, Tabitha was conceived there and … they weren’t going to leave a baby in jail. We don’t know many details but it apparently wasn’t a good situation even without the prison thing. Dad has tried to backtrack it, for Tab’s sake, but it’s been really hard … “ I blinked like an idea had occurred to me, “Weirdly hard, like when he tried to find my mom. I’m starting to wonder if something weird is going on there, I honestly kinda wish my family was running into a lot less weirdness.” 

_I wish we hadn’t ended up having to drop into your life._

_Theia, I wish you hadn’t had to deal with the crap you’ve been though, Tabs either. But I’ve never regretted having you two as sisters, not for a moment._

Shiori went for a topic change, “So is it just me or is the fact we react like _that_ to killing things really creepy?” 

There was a pause before we all replied at once, “Yep.” “Yes.” “Totally” “Oh god yes.” 

_It’s funny, it’s almost like somebody made the Edge to addict Heretics to killing, I can’t think why somebody might do that._

_Yes Theia, I know, the Imperium sucks._

Avalon commented, “It can get addictive, it’s something to watch out for. People who get too many kills too easily can go kill crazy. We, I mean the Garden, call them Weeds. They grow fast, choke off everything around them, and if you don’t get to them fast are hard to deal with.” She blinked at my worried look, “I’m pretty sure the fight vs the Peridles was enough of a fight to not be a risk.” 

Sands winced, “We call it ‘going savage’, you can help somebody if they haven’t gotten too bad … if they have though, all you can do is find something really dangerous, point them at it, and stand back.” 

_More than a few of them ‘vanish’, they are powerful weapons in our hands, and the insanity isn’t an issue if they aren’t in control._

_I’m depressed that that makes sense._

I thought on that, “I’m assuming this is a guide to why you probably shouldn't build your magic power-granting device around something that’s crazy and kills things for fun.” 

Vanessa frowned, “I’m guessing they didn’t think they had a lot of better options.” 

“Listen. Strange monster heads built into lights distributing powers is no basis for a system of monster hunting.” 

That got me blank looks from half of the table, while Vanessa and Shiori burst into giggles. That was the first time I’d seen Shiori laugh, it was pretty cute. 

Sands gave me a vaguely annoyed look, “I’m going to have to do more research aren't I.” 

Vanessa smirked, “So, movie night?” 

I nodded, “Movie night.” 

* * *

[Wednesday, September 20, 2017] 

“Chambers, what are you doing?” Avalon’s tone was just this side of incredulous. 

I looked over from where I was putting a poster on the wall on my side of the room, “So, it turns out that you can get posters of famous Heretics. I mean it shouldn’t surprise me really, and I’ve been doing some research into a few of them, some of who are really cool. I mean you have to admit, it’s better than some rock star or sports person.” 

“Chambers. That is a poster of my _mother_.” 

I looked up at the Gaia Sinclair poster, a very nicely done picture of her in front of the palace they still insisted on calling Primary Academics. “Yeah, Theia is a huge fan as it turns out … so, think I could get her to sign it?” 

She rubbed her hand over her face, “No, I’m not letting you do this. Having my mother looking down at me all the time would be creepy.” 

_Okay, you win the bet. I thought she’d take longer to crack._

_I told you._

I sighed, “Well, I guess I can see that. I hope you don’t give me grief about the other one though.” I held up a still rolled up poster, “I mean finding a Gabriel Prossor poster is not easy, it took some serious effort by Sands and Scout to … “ 

_There is no way she hasn’t killed at least one vampire for that speed._

The poster had almost teleported out of my hand and was now being studied by Avalon. She finally looked up and, god help me, she blushed a little at my look, “Ah … this one is going on my side.” 

_The great Avalon Sinclair is a fangirl?_

_I’m not judging. If I could get a poster of Lancelot I would totally have him up there, he’s amazing. He did so much damage to our operations on Earth before they managed to finally kill him._

I managed to keep a, mostly, straight face. After seeing her actually do an embarrassed blush there was no getting around the fact that I had a hell of a crush on my roommate. Thankfully Theia could keep me from doing anything too stupid, it helped that Theia was mostly straight … the rest was ‘it’s complex and I’ll tell you when you’re older’. “How about the back of the door as a compromise?” 

Avalon narrowed her eyes a bit, “Agreed. But I’m still not happy with a poster of my mother up. It’s … weird.” 

I started to take it back down again, “Okay, I’ll grant you that. She is pretty cool though … I don’t know if you’ve got contacts but Theia is also a huge fan of the Knights of the Round Table … I don’t suppose you could get one of Sir Percival? The Masons said it’s hard to find good pictures of him, at least ones where he’s not dressed way too modern for the right effect.” 

She narrowed her eyes even more, “You’re messing with me, you and Theia.” 

I finished rolling up the poster and nodded, “You need to relax more, and I need to get this back to the person I was borrowing it off.” I followed her quick glance, “Don’t worry, the Prossor poster is ours, I … didn’t realise you were such a fan.” 

My roommate got a lot more serious, “He’s always been a major inspiration to me. He … he’s important.” In an obvious attempt to change the topic she asked, “Why the Knights of the Round Table?” 

“Theia has always had a thing about them, I’m not entirely sure why. She may be in my head but never ask me to explain everything Theia does. Or anything she does really … “ 

_I’d be offended if it wasn’t true._

I did know the reason of course. Camelot had not only been entirely real, but also the center of anti-Imperium resistance on Earth for the short time it existed. It said a lot about how powerful Arthur and the people he gathered around him were that they went up against the might of one of the Imperium’s most elite forces and _almost won_. They forced the Imperium to pull out all the stops to beat them. 

In many ways it had been the breaking of that force. One of their most powerful members, and one of the few I’d be honestly happy to see, had left over the outcome of that fight. Over the next few centuries the rest of them had been split off and sent to where they were more needed. It hadn’t been a sudden thing, but in many ways you could point at the Battle of Camlann as the single point that saw the beginning of the end for that group staying together. 

So of course both my sisters were huge fans, and if it didn’t hit me nearly as hard, I was quite a fan too. I was hoping to meet Sir Percival at some point. 

“Chambers, you are a very strange person.” 

I grinned back at her, “Do you want to know the really terrifying thing?” 

She gave me a look. 

I smiled wider, “This has been me on good behaviour. At some point I’m going to start really causing havoc.” 

_I don’t think she believes us._

_She will learn, oh, she will learn._

* * *

[Sunday, September 24, 2017] 

“Just in here.” Sands guided me into one of the school’s gardens, one with a decent sized grove of trees. 

_Ooo, I know where we’re going._

Huh. A treehouse, an actual old fashioned treehouse … with a bunch of magic to make people not notice it’s there. 

_Some of my wards are still running, I don’t think the twins could have maintained them. Larissa’s work?_

I climbed up the tree and ducked into the small single room to find Scout and unexpectedly Vanessa waiting for us. 

Sands explained, “We built this when we were kids … our friend Alyson helped us put some spells to give more privacy and mom upgraded them later before … “ she trailed off before shaking her head, “This is probably about as private as we can get without sneaking out to the jungle.” 

_That makes sense._ I got the feeling of her studying the room. _They should still be solid._ She didn’t sound as sure as I’d like, or for that matter as she would like. 

I gave the three of them a look and parked myself on a pile of cushions like the others had, “Okay, so this feels ominous.” 

They looked at each other then back at me before Vanessa took a breath, “I’m trying to find somebody and I think you know more about her than we do … what do you know about Sariel?” 

_Oh fuck me sideways._


	21. Seeking Family

[Monday, September 4, 2017] 

Vanessa Moon remembered _everything_. 

She couldn't remember much from the most early parts of her life when everything was just shapes colour and noise, but there were fragments of it from back when her brain wasn’t developed enough to be remembering much of anything. 

Anything since then though was available to recall as needed. 

Vanessa could remember back to when she still had a family, a twin brother and a loving mother and father, and how happy things had been then. 

She could certainly remember the day ten years ago when her family was torn apart, when a man named Puriel showed up at their door and tried to take her mother away. The first time she’d heard the term Heretic, when her father had pulled a sword out of nowhere and shattered the orb Puriel was going to kidnap them with. When Puriel had revealed that he and her mother weren’t human, and when the shattered item had dragged not only the attacker but the rest of her family away, scattering them across the universe. 

Vanessa had never stopped wanting them back, never stopped looking. But it wasn’t until Heretics came back into her life, offering her a chance to go to a school called Crossroads and fight monsters, that she finally had some leads. 

It was obvious to her that she wasn’t entirely human, her mother hadn’t been so she couldn't be. It explained her perfect memory, her brother’s Olympian grade physical talents even at the age of seven. 

She had been worried the Edge would reject her, and what might happen. But it had accepted her instead, showed her a vision of her parent’s wedding, the joy and happiness they had for each other, between Stranger and Hunter. 

They said Strangers were evil, that they were monsters. But Vanessa’s mother wasn’t a monster. Vanessa’s father hadn’t married a monster. Vanessa and her brother weren’t half-monster. 

Crossroads was wrong, it was that simple. There were probably monsters out there, creatures worthy of everything bad said about them, but that wasn’t everything. That wasn’t Vanessa’s family. 

And she was going to find them. 

* * *

[Wednesday, September 6, 2017] 

“So, what did you want to talk about?” 

Vanessa had never been much of a people person. She was never comfortable around others like her brother had been. Tristan took after their father who could make friends with anyone. Vanessa took after her mother who had _seemed _to have that same talent but, looking at her memories in hindsight, Vanessa was pretty sure her mother was a lot more like Vanessa, just better at faking it. 

Sure, Sands and Scout had said people should feel free to ask them questions, but these weren’t exactly normal questions she had. How do you ask people brought up as Stranger hunters about your family of Strangers? 

She wouldn’t take the risk except that Sands had talked about an Eden’s Garden Heretic named Haiden rescuing her mother. The same name as her father. 

Vanessa had already checked what she could of the public Crossroad’s records, none of the Haiden’s that showed up in the school rolls matched her father. That didn’t mean he was from the Garden, he could have been one of those other groups, a Natural Heretic like Flick, but it was the closest thing she’d had to a lead in years. 

The Mason twins and Vanessa were sitting in a quiet corner of the campus, Sands being the one to have asked the question of course. 

They seemed to have picked up on her tension, Sands giving her a smile, “Look, if it’s something that’s really big then you could take it to one of the professionals.” 

Vanessa shook her head, “No this is … personal.” Now or never, “You said your mother got saved by a Heretic called Haiden. Do you know his last name?” 

A quick glance between the sisters, then Sands said in a more careful tone, “Holt. His name was Haiden Holt. Why are you wanting to know?” 

Well, Vanessa had already started. “I think he’s my father.” Having a Heretic as a father, that was safe right? Even from the opposition group? “I don’t suppose you have a picture of him?” 

Both of the Masons shook their heads, Sands explaining, “Mom only knew his name because she decided to look him up after finding out she’d been saved by a Garden Heretic when she was young. It’s hard for us to get solid information about them.” 

Vanessa had told this story before, but this was the first time for people that might believe it. “I told you my family was attacked when I was young. It was by somebody that looked human but wasn’t. Dad pulled a sword out of nowhere to fight with, the thing attacking us called him a Heretic. Whatever it was they took all my family away but couldn’t get to me … because of something mom did.” That was even mostly the truth, just leaving some bits out. 

That would be safe, right? 

Sands seemed to accept that, “So you’re trying to find out who he was to find out what happened. That makes sense, our team seems to have a bit of that. Looked human but wasn’t … Bystander Effect would have covered up most of what we could go on. You said your mother did something to save you, do you know if she was also a Heretic? If it was a spell then she could have just been an Adjacent. What was her name?” 

It was so freeing to have somebody listen to Vanessa's story and not tell her she was crazy, not tell her something horrible like she was repressing abuse, to just listen, accept it and want to help. Vanessa replied without thinking, “Sariel.” 

The twins froze. 

It was just a name. Did they know something? Without even thinking about it Vanessa let her hand drift closer to where her whip was stored. 

It was Scout that spoke first, “She knows.” Then the normally quiet girl reached behind herself and, moving with care, took the camera case she stored her rifle in off and placed it on the ground, pushing it away a bit. 

Sands looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened, “Oh … yeah.” She followed suit, taking the sheath of her weapon off her belt and putting it to one side, “We’re not going to attack you Vanessa.” 

For a long moment Vanessa was caught between fight, flight, and just general panic. “You … you know.” 

Scout spoke again, “Sariel saved my life, on the boat.” 

Sands nodded, “And it was her _and _Haiden that saved mom.” She was giving Vanessa the oddest look though, a weird kind of fascination. 

Vanessa slowly moved her hand away from her whip and tried to slow her breathing down. Then she caught up with what Scout had said, “Wait, you’ve seen her? Since she was taken?” 

Scout smiled, “Mom and her knew each other, they were friends. She’s trapped somewhere, can escape for short bursts, we don’t know how to signal her.” 

Mom was alive. Maybe not well, but alive. She was _alive_. 

Sands leaned a bit closer, “So it really can happen … you’re half human, half Stranger. And a Heretic. Huh, I guess those rumours about Eden’s Garden are true.” She seemed like she wasn’t sure if she should be fascinated or vaguely horrified. 

Scout gave her sister a _look _which caused Sands to sit up, “Ah, yeah. Look, I’m still getting used to this Strangers Aren’t All Evil thing, and we can’t trust dad because … he’d take it badly. We’re looking for her too, your mother that is, and your other sisters.” 

“I … don’t have any sisters?” 

“Yeah, about that? We need to tell you about Alyson and Tabitha Holt.” 

* * *

“So I’ve got sisters. Huh.” 

Vanessa was well past the point of being able to give a useful response. In the last half hour she’d gone from ‘nobody believes me and I have no leads and if anyone did they would kill me’ to this. 

Scout gave her a sympathetic smile and a hug. Sands was also looking sympathetic, “I kinda know the feeling … having my sister tell me that she’s only alive because mom was friends with a Stranger … really caused me to have to think about things.” 

Vanessa shook her head, organised her thoughts. “I still don’t know what mom was though. I’m assuming my memory is from her, I remember everything that’s ever happened, perfectly. And Tristan was impossibly acrobatic for somebody his age, so those are probably both from her?” She paused to think, “I could always see Strangers, nobody would believe me when I told them, but I could always see them.” And the less said about the other results of telling people the better. Let the past remain the past. 

“Teleporter.” was Scout’s addition. 

Sands nodded, “Tabitha picked up things really quickly, never forget anything either, I mean I’m not used to kids her age but she learned to walk really quickly. And we think she could teleport, never saw her do it but sometimes she’d vanish when we’re sure she didn’t get past us and mom could always find her so we think she was teleporting to mom. 

“That's what happened on the boat, Sariel teleported in to meet mom and Scout and when she saved Scout it was by grabbing mom and the Fomorian and teleporting them both out with her. We … we don’t know if mom is alive or not but ...” She trailed off. 

For some reason even that name, of the creature that had attacked them, gave Vanessa a bad feeling. She’d read enough to know they were very bad news, but this felt weirdly personal. “Flick moves like my brother did. That same kind of grace and precision.” 

“Yeah. We don’t think Alyson is the same species as your mom, but they could be related because Alyson moved like that too. She never did anything that might have been a teleport, but she could just be hiding that. What she did have was short bits of superspeed and lightning powers.” 

Vanessa picked up on it instantly, “You think Flick is an Alyson natural.” 

“Yeah, and we think her adopted younger sister is your younger half-sister. It fits. We don't know if Flick knows about Alyson or what her sister is but we think she might and … well, she’s obviously not going to risk telling anyone here.” 

Scout held up her phone with a picture on it, four girls standing together. Two of them were obviously younger versions of the two girls Vanessa was talking to but between them was a brunette in her mid-teens holding a blond toddler in her arms. The older girl had an uncertain smile while the toddler was beaming at the camera. 

Vanessa couldn’t be sure, she knew exactly what her mother looked like but she was comparing an adult to a girl not far past babyhood. She was glad of her memory though, she didn’t want to forget that picture, these were her sisters, her family. 

Scout fiddled with the phone then brought up another picture, now it was somebody else she recognized: Felicity standing in a garden with her arm around a girl, maybe eight, that was hugging her back. It was obvious they cared about each other. And this time Vanessa was _sure_, the little girl was her sister. Sands was looking between the photo and Vanessa, “Yeah, I can see it. Around the eyes, and Tab’s hair used to be the same colour as yours … I think it still is, but she’s using dye or maybe magic.” 

Vanessa fell back on the grass laughing, “I … I have sisters. And mom is alive, trapped somewhere but alive. Thank you.” 

“I wish we had any idea about your dad or brother.” 

_It’s taking you through the portal, and it’s broken so it could take you anywhere! Any world, any of them!_ Her mother’s words from a decade ago. 

“They were scattered, sent to different planets. Mom, dad, Tristan, the man that attacked them. He was trying to take her back to her people, I don’t know if they caught her or she’s stuck somewhere else. I know so much more than I did before but… the library has been no use.” She was annoyed. Books had failed her, books had never failed her before. 

Scout sighed, “Hidden knowledge.” 

“Yeah, me and Scout have been looking. There is nothing even close to what Alyson or Tabs were. The abilities show up separately, but never in one species. Alyson was not a Stardrinker, _that_ we’re sure of, and we don’t think Flick is either.” Sands snorted, “She’s not fast enough for one.” 

“Not fast enough? I can barely see her when she moves.” 

“Yeah, if she was a Stardrinker you wouldn't even see that, they go so fast they may as well be teleporting. Also Alyson could make things hot and cold … we worked out how to use it to make ice cream. Mom told us to help her hide that she could do that, mom knew what she was and it really wasn’t a Stardrinker.” 

“Dad always called my mom an angel … I’m wondering if he was being literal. She didn’t have wings though, not that I ever saw. We need to ask Flick … but if we’re wrong then we’re risking Tabbitha.” 

Scout shook her head, “No risk.” 

Vanessa frowned, then nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. I mean I knew mom wasn’t human, so I knew what they said here wasn’t … complete.” 

Sands agreed, “Yeah, make Flick choose between her family and here, no bet on which way she’d jump. Assuming her imaginary friend isn’t …“ 

There was a long pause as all three girls shared matching appalled expressions. 

Sands finally said, “No fucking way. She couldn’t be that obvious and get away with it.” 

Vanessa’s tone was awed, “She’s getting away with it so far.” 

Scout added, “Fits the pattern.” 

Sands thought on that, “Shit, it does. Mom smuggled two Strangers right through the middle of Crossroads and got away with it … and now Flick is …” 

Vanessa finished the thought, “Talking to one of those Strangers, out loud, while walking around school. And everyone is putting it down to an imaginary friend. No wonder Theia could see through the Bystander effect.” 

A nod from Sands, “You really have to respect the audacity.” 

“Chutzpah.” was Scout’s comment. 

Vanessa snorted, “Yeah, pure chutzpah.” She smirked a little at Sands’s confused expression, “Yiddish word, kinda like audacity but … more so. So, can we talk to her?” 

Sands bit her lip, “I … don’t know. I mean what if she doesn’t know … what if she doesn’t believe us fully, and talks to the administration to prove we’re wrong about Tabitha and Theia. I mean we know that standard checks don’t pick up Tabs, but nobody was trying to check ‘is she a stranger’. It’s … risky.” 

Vanessa was so close, she could taste it. Flick had to know more than she was saying, more about who Vanessa's mother was, _what_ her mother was. There had to be a way. “We need a way to talk to Theia without Flick being involved.” 

They thought on that for a bit, Scout summing it up as “Tricky.” 

Sands blinked, “Oh, another fact. Sometimes when she was stressed Alyson didn’t speak English, mom told us to hide that too. We didn’t work it out till after they had left but the language she would use was Latin. I mean that could be from your mother?” 

Vanessa thought on that, “Maybe? I should learn latin … I wonder if Flick speaks it, because if she doesn’t and that is Alyson linked to her …“ She looked at the others, “You’ve already been doing an investigation, right?” 

Sands grinned, “Yeah, so this is what we’ve worked out so far …” 

* * *

[Saturday, September 9, 2017] 

Vanessa and Sands looked up as Scout climbed into the tree house, Sands asking, “Did you get it?” 

Scout just held up several sheets of paper. 

Sands sighed, “Okay, so just having you ask for it was better than my plan. I liked my plan, it was fun, and I had the duplication spell all ready.” 

Her twin rolled her eyes and handed the paper to Vanessa who just glanced at each side before handing them onto Sands in turn. 

That earned Vanessa a long look from Sands, “Okay, I’m honestly envious of that. Does it help with spells too?” 

The blond girl smirked a little, “It’s pretty cool at times, and yes, it really does. Want me to summarize?” 

Sands looked down at the papers, “Yeah, I’m still going to read it but you’re probably quicker to describe it.” 

What she was holding was the essay that Flick and Avalon had been required to fill out after their unplanned fight. Sands had worked out a plan to sneak a copy but Scout had pointed out she could just ask for a copy in the interests of learning from the fight. Given the whole ‘we need to train up properly’ thing there apparently hadn't been any good reason to say no. 

Vanessa looked up at the ceiling, gathering her thoughts. “So Avalon and Flick killed a hell of a lot of bugs, whoever set it up knew at least some of Flick’s abilities and had planned for them. Flick got at least as many kills in as the trained Eden’s Garden student with a bunch of powers.” Vanessa looked back at the others, “Some of it sounds a bit like that fight you described Alyson as being in, with the Daesimalo, though nowhere near as polished, but without seeing it … Flick really knows how to fight though. It wasn’t just bolts, some superspeed martial arts, widespread attacks, and even an area blast around her. Nothing like that lightning wall you described though.” 

Sands frowned, “That sounds a lot like what Alyson was like early on …“ 

Scout commented, “Lightning was new, heat and cold too.” 

Sands nodded, “Yeah. A bunch of the stuff Alyson could do she was used to, the speed especially, but her lightning tricks, she was still learning them when we met her. For a while she was afraid to touch us because she might shock us. Flick doesn’t have that, but she’s using some of Aly’s early tricks. She’s learning slower though, Alyson was with us for less time than Flick’s been a Natural and she was throwing lightning walls around.” 

Vanssa thought for a moment, “In the report Flick said that control is more of a problem for her than power. She was sure she could have killed everything in the room in one blast if she’d chosen to, but couldn’t because everything would have included Avalon.” 

Sands considered that, “Not the same as Alyson, after the first month she had much better control, but was still building up power. Some things were hard, like light-bulbs, but once she worked out how to throw a bolt she never had any problems hitting targets. Still, this is what I’d expect if Alyson was teaching her … and then there was that investigation.” 

Even remembering it made both Sands and Scout look a bit ill, though it was Scout that commented, “Theia can control Flick sometimes.” 

Vanessa looked puzzled, “Control her?” 

Sands nodded, “Yeah, she spoke through Flick’s mouth, though I guess that could have been with permission. Didn’t sound like Alyson did, different accent, Theia sounds kinda English, Alyson had a really weird accent when we first met her and started sounding kind of American later on. Copying people I think.” 

Scout noted, “She has Alyson’s stare.” 

“Yeah, so we told you a bit about the investigation. Thing is while Flick was looking at any of the really horrible stuff she had this look she gave it, I’ve seen some of the older Heretics do it too, kind of looking through things. Alyson got exactly the same expression when she was looking at something that really bothered her … used it on da a bit. Flick either got that off Theia, or maybe Theia was controlling her while they were doing the detective thing, so she didn’t freak out. There were things that Alyson would freak out about but not blood, if somebody got injured around her she just got that ‘look’ and helped clean up.” 

That got the twins a questioning look causing Sands to look defensive, “Look, we messed around a lot with things we probably shouldn’t have sometimes, we might have gotten injured in the process … a bunch of times. Alyson knows a lot about first aid, magical and non-magical. It’s the same look Flick had though, her ‘I can’t deal with this right now so I’m going to ignore it until the crisis is over’ look.” 

Vanessa’s tone was cautious, “Whatever she went though, it wasn’t with my mom, right?” 

“Yeah, our mom was always very clear about that. Whoever Alyson’s original parents were they were … bad. I’m not going to say monsters because, that’s gotten more complex for me lately, but bad people. Your mother got her away from them, somehow, and then got her and Tabitha out of wherever she is.” 

Vanessa couldn’t help a smile, “Rescued a child, and somehow faked her death from what you said, and then got her and my other sister here, while trapped somewhere herself. Mom is awesome.” 

Scout suddenly sat up, “Exploration.” 

Sands thought for a moment and then nodded, “Doh, that’s why you’re in Exploration Track aren’t you. Your family is out there and you’re going to find them.” 

Vanessa nodded, “Yes. Turns out I was looking in the wrong place, though I’m hoping we can find a route.” 

The twins looked at each other, nodded, then looked back at Vanessa, “Well, you’ll have our help when you find anything.” 

“Because she might know where your mother is?” 

“That, and because mom cared about her enough to save her kids. Even if we can’t find ours that easily, we can help get yours back. Sisterhood of the Missing Mother and all that.” 

Sands shook her head, “Anyway, we were thinking that there are records not in the standard library, so …“ 

* * *

[Tuesday, September 19, 2017] 

“I still can't believe you described that movie as a ‘unique historical look at the time of Camelot’.” Sands glare at Vanessa thankfully failed to set her on fire. 

“You can’t say I was wrong. It’s certainly unique.” 

Scout just said, “Liked it.” 

“Feh.” Sands gave one of the runes on the wall a quick look, then nodded. “So, now that we can talk …“ 

Vanessa flopped down, “Mom is in prison and conceived a child there … was it me or was Flick implying it wasn’t by choice?” 

Sands joined her, “That was my feeling … I’m sorry.” 

Vanessa closed her eyes, “She’s alive, that’s the important thing. Anything else I can deal with. I also have a sister and regardless of where she’s from she’s my sister, that’s the other important thing. Two sisters.” 

Trapped could have meant a lot of things, imprisoned meant somebody was keeping her there, probably keeping Sands and Scout’s mom there too … get rid of the wardens, break them out. It wasn’t much of a plan, but everything had to start somewhere. 

She shook her head, “So, no luck getting into the secure records?” 

Scout’s comment was, “Too many guards.” 

“Yeah, that Wyatt guy was hanging around every time we tried. This was easier when we didn’t have to worry about student curfew. But Scout and I were talking and we had a worrying thought, because the thing is that Alyson could have gotten through that. She was good with security, really good, she did the first wards on this place.” 

“What’s so special about them? You said your mother had to reinforce them?” 

“She needed to _maintain_ them, but she made a comment once that she couldn’t replace them. It’s not just making this not show up to people we don’t show it to, it’s also got anti surveillance tricks and and doesn’t show up on Crossroads Security, despite being inside the dome. I don’t know how Alyson managed the last one, we even still show up as ‘in the school’, just not _here_.” 

The blond thought about that, “I’ll be honest, with how good you said she was at fighting, she sounds like a spy or an assassin. And we think she’s now talking to Flick in her head … they checked for possession but not communication spells?” 

Sands shook her head, “No, they called it a possession check but it’s a lot more comprehensive than that. They keep the full list of checks secret for a reason, but I know they do check for things like magical communications channels. If Alyson is somewhere else and talking to Flick as constantly as she seems to, they should have picked it up.” 

Vanessa smirked, “Except she’s a Stranger that can get through a medical check, and an expert in breaking security systems.” 

Sands flopped back on the pile of cushions that covered most of the Treehouse’s floor, “Yeah, that would explain it. What bothers me is that if Aly can do this, who else can? Mom was really worried about people working out who Aly really was, and I’m starting to wonder if it wasn’t Crossroads she was worried about.” 

Vanessa’s smile vanished, “Mother’s people … who are they?” 

Sands gave her a serious look, “I think we need to find out, and not just because of your mother and our friends.” 

“So we talk to Flick?” 

“Quietly.” 

The other two looked at Scout then nodded, Sands saying, “Next chance we get we bring her here and we ask her what’s going on. There is something really weird going on here, and I think it’s a lot bigger than we know about. We need answers and there is only one person we can get them from.” 

For the Mason twins Crossroads had always been home, and now home wasn’t feeling so safe anymore. 


	22. Reunion 4.01

[Sunday, September 24, 2017] 

I took a few seconds to think with a backdrop of some remarkably foul swearing in Latin from Theia. 

Step one, make sure everyone was who they seemed to be. 

I boosted _hard_, Theia lending her own to the effort as I gave her control of my hands. For this we needed exact precision and she grabbed the field engraver from our pocket. 

While the others were probably watching me blur, I grabbed the wrist of the nearest, Scout, and Theia quickly drew the anti-angel expulsion rune onto her skin, powering it up the moment it was ready. Then I moved to the next and the next. 

The runes were still cycling when we finished and I kept an eye on the group while Theia wrote out an even better privacy ward on the wall, something that humans were really not supposed to have access to. 

Finally we dropped out of boost and I let myself fall back onto the cushions as the other three were yelping in surprise and pain. Even if you don’t have somebody inside you just the drawing of that rune really smarts and I could only assume speed-drawing it didn’t make it hurt any less. Obviously I’d never tested it on myself, but dad knew it and Tabbris, crazy girl that she was, had been determined to prove it worked, so I was familiar with their general reactions. 

All three runes flared up … and then vanished. No posessors found, nobody to kick out. Which means there was nobody in there right now … or that it was somebody _really good_. 

“The Hell? What was that?” Sands was, unsurprisingly, annoyed. 

I held a finger up, “Anti-possession spell, making sure you don’t have anyone riding along. Since all three of you are apparently still you, lets try this again and … could you please be very careful how you use that exact name because I don’t know who might be listening for it.” 

There was a reason my family had gotten into the habit of never using some names. ‘Angel’ is generic, the real name of Theia and Tabbris’s species is very much not, ditto for various famous members of the Imperium. 

Apparently I was looking concerned enough that none of the others argued the point, Vanessa giving me a long look instead, “You know who she is? Do you know where she is?” 

_Okay, I have no idea at all what is going on here._

Scout was the next to speak, “Is Theia our friend Alyson?” 

_Okay, I have some idea what is going on here._

I couldn’t help muttering, “I know I had a plan … why do my plans never survive long enough to even fail?” I sat up again, if they knew this much and weren’t trying to report me to anyone then this was no time to hold back. “Yeah, Theia is Alyson, and my younger sister is the Tabitha you looked after for a while. She misses her friends too. Now, could you _please_ tell me what you know and why you’re asking.” 

Another collective look between each other then Sands went first, “My vision, it showed me the time my family picnic got attacked in the forest and Alyson helped save us, same power and you fight kinda like she does.” 

_Ah, that fight. And to be fair this was part of the plan, so yay?_

_I’ll grant you that._

Sands seemed to notice my pause, “So I’m thinking you’re an Alyson Heretic, whatever she is, and she’s the voice in your head … though how you snuck that past all the tests I don’t know. Some kind of communication spell?” 

_Is this what it feels like when somebody is on the receiving end of dad?_

Scout’s voice was even quieter than normal, “Mom took me out on the boat to meet Sariel. Told me she wasn’t human and that she was Tabitha’s mother. A Fomorian attacked us … Sariel saved me, and somehow teleported away, taking mom and the monster. Vision showed me her name.” 

_SHE’S ALIVE! Oh thank the lords, she’s alive._

I found myself crying and wiped a tear away, “Sorry … feedback from Theia … it’s the first hard proof we’ve had that her mom’s still alive since before you met Alyson and Tabs.” I shook my head and tried to stay focused, “Sure, last seen fighting a Fomorian but given who she is she’s gonna survive that …“ I looked over at Vanessa, “So what’s your involvement in this?” 

The blond girl blinked, “She’s my mother. My father was Haiden Holt.” 

What? 

_What._

**_WHAT._**

I sat there looking at her for a bit before Theia borrowed my mouth, “That’s not possible.” 

They all jumped as my tone of voice shifted, though Scout was the first to reply, “Alyson?” 

I felt a request and agreed, letting Theia take my body over fully for a bit. She shook our head, “Yeah I … need more warding. I would really rather do this outside the dome?” 

Sands shook her head, “We never set something up out there, too hard to protect when we couldn’t cast. And … look, I know it sounds crazy, but it turns out that humans can have kids with Strangers.” 

Theia nodded and brought the engraver out again, starting to write on the walls, “Alters, the polite name is Alters. Nocen if you’re talking about the kind of people that deserve to have Heretics going after them … I know hybrids exist, but it shouldn’t be possible for you to be a Heretic. Not a Crossroads Heretic, the Edge won’t work on a hybrid, Garden apples do but not the Edge. It doesn’t make sense … “ 

Vanessa sounded as confused as we did, “I’m sure she’s my mother.” 

Theia put the last runes up, triggered them and then started drawing a pattern on the floor, “I believe you, I mean you even look like her, you’ve got angelic memory, the rest probably hasn’t kicked in yet but … how did you get through the Edge? Is it letting hybrids in now? I should have realised it was you, stupid of me, but … hybrids can’t be Crossroads Heretics, it’s not possible, so you couldn’t be the person we were looking for. So stupid.” 

_Stop beating yourself up, and do you think there might be others?_

Theia stopped for a moment, “Felicity is wondering if there might be others in the school.” Then she went back to the complex diagram. She’d had this trick longer than I’d known her but it was a pain to set up and not mobile so normally it was not worth using. This wasn’t a normal situation though. 

“You were looking for me?” 

Thiea nodded then started powering up the spell circle, “Of course, you’re my sister.” She paused for a moment sounding almost defensive, “Mom, I mean your mother, adopted me. Dad has been trying to hunt you down but your family covered their tracks well … and we couldn’t look too close. The people that took her are almost certainly still watching you … they know who you are, what you are. They knew the Edge would work on you … filius caniculae!” 

She sat back, “You’re up Felicity.” Before letting me have control back. 

Sands pointed at the glowing circle, “I’m guessing the thing on the wall is privacy … what’s that?” 

“Illusion spell technically … remote controlled hologram.” Then I triggered it. 

This bit always felt weird, like I was in two places at once for a moment. Then I was firmly back in my own body and Theia was quieter than even when she was sleeping. 

In the circle a figure appeared, slim with brown hair, a few inches taller than me, and Avalon level pretty. An angel. 

Theia blinked away tears as she smiled at the twins, “Hi.” 

For a moment it looked like they were going to hug her before they remembered the illusion bit, though they still reached out, not quite touching, like I did with mom in the vision, and Theia raised her hands in response. 

Scout was the first to reply, “Missed you.” 

Theia was crying again, “Missed you too.” 

Sands made up for not being able to hug Theia by putting an arm around her sister, “We never stopped looking. Mom said you and Tabs were still alive, we were going to start tracking you down once we finished at school. We never gave up.” 

“I knew you wouldn’t. I always knew I’d be coming back here … I was scared that I couldn’t see you again, scared you’d not want to see me again if you knew what I was.” 

Sands shook her head, “Scout always knew … I … well, she always was the sensible one of us, I just had to listen. You’re our friend, I mean I still don’t know what you are, but the important bit is you’re our friend.” 

I moved over to sit next to Vanessa, “Theia doesn’t have a lot of friends that are still alive. She might be catching up for a bit.” 

Vanessa was twitching like she really wanted to start asking questions but was holding it back. “I get that, it’s just … after all this time looking.” 

“We have time, anyway, hi, I’m Felicity, natural Heretic of your younger sister which kinda makes us related.” 

“Does it really work that way?” 

I waggled a hand, “Opinions differ, but I think it does. The change runs pretty deep, we’re not the same people as we were before we saw the light, even on a genetic level.” 

While Vanessa processed that the others had just been looking at each other, all three with tears in their eyes. After all this time they didn’t seem to know what to say. 

Theia eventuly broke the silence, “So, um, hi. I’m Theia, ah, not human if you hadn’t caught that.” 

There was another moment, then Sands started laughing, followed by Scout and then Theia herself. All the stress, all the concern about coming to Crossroads. This moment made it all worthwhile. 

A moment later Sands and Theia both started talking, stopped, started again, almost jumping around topics as they tried to catch each other up on things that had happened. 

I gave Vanessa a look, “So, I’m guessing you have questions? Oh, and we’ll need to get you to visit my place at some point, because you have a litlte sister that’s going to stright up murder me if she doesn’t get to hug you in the near future.” 

Vanessa seemed to be unsure where to start, “What … dad called mom an angel sometimes. Was she?” 

“Hooooboy, so she’s from one of many species that get called angels, though that’s mostly public relations. She’s … sorry, we’ve gotten into the habit of not using certain words, even in our own heads if we can avoid it, too much risk of people hearing.” I looked up at the runes on the walls, if I could trust anywhere this was it, “The proper name is Seosten. They were very close to humans once but have been upgrading themselves for a very long time. Most of my abilities are standard for them, the speed, balance, things like that. Your memory is another standard thing. The lightning is a weird special case and not strictly my power. 

“Seosten are … I mean I’ve only met two personally, both related to you, but I’ve seen memories of others. I don’t think they are inherently good or bad people, but the culture that your mother was hiding from is pretty terrible. Your mother’s history is really complex, but she’s one of the best people I’ve ever heard of. Your father is pretty amazing too, I think she’d been wanting out of what she was for a long time, but it was him that made her think it was possible to leave, to be somebody she could respect again.” I sighed, “There isn’t a simple anwser to ‘who is Sariel’, she’s complex. 

“The most important thing though is that she loves you, she’s never stopped loving you, and however we manage to find your family and get them back together she’s still going to love you.” 

Vanessa smiled softly, “That I never doubted. There is nothing about Seosten in Crossroads though.” 

I shook my head, “There won’t be … I know a secret conspiracy of Strangers having influence and control over Crossroads might sound crazy …” 

“But Larissa was hiding Tabitha and Theia from their own people while _here_, they were invisible to every Stranger detection method, and Theia could break through Crossroads security like she had a back door to it. And you were checking us to see if we were possessed like you thought that was likely.” 

I paused to process that, “Okay, you three know more than I expected. Right. So the big ability Seosten have, and I assume it’s something you’ll pick up at some point, is possession. Step into any living creature over a certain mass, and if it’s not too powerful you can control them.” I couldn’t help but smile, “Tabs has a bunch of pets at home she rides around in. In most cases Seosten don’t have to control hosts either, they can sit in the back of their head and spy. That’s why I needed to do the check.” 

Sands called out, “Wait, possession? What about teleporting? I’m sure Tabitha teleported a few times.” 

Thiea and I gave each other a confused look … being able to do that was kind of novel, before my sister blinked, “Oh, recall. So when we stop possessing somebody there is a bond left behind, a kind of trace. We can follow that trace back, just jump back into the person we were last in, or next to them, or do a kind of mental projection trick … only works for the last person you were in, but that’s how we teleport. That’s how mom was getting to Larissa - she was the last person mom ever possessed.” 

I followed up, “Tabs normally has Dad as her last point of contact just in case she ever needs to run away from something to him. Thankfully the few times she’s had to use it the Bystander Effect covered things up. I’m guessing if she got too stressed when she was at your place, or too bored, she’d go to a safe place.” 

Scout looked like she had some questions about this, but wasn’t bringing them up right away. Sands on the other hand was thinking before she said, “Wait, you’re in Flick aren't you. You’re not talking to her, you're possessing her.” 

Theia grinned, “Ten points for Gryffindor. And before you ask I’ve got a … call it a disability I guess. I’m stuck in Felicity, which is why this, “ she pointed at the spell circle. 

Sands narrowed her eyes, “What do you mean by ‘stuck’?” 

I spoke up, “Theia means that she can’t exit me while I’m still alive, and yes, it bothers me that she can’t get out and around and do her own thing. We normally have a time-share deal going on, but that’s not practical while I’m here. Theia running around controlling my body would probably push me past the limit of ‘too crazy for Crossroads’.” I grinned, “It’s annoying, because unlike me, Theia can cook.” 

The twins just nodded at that, then Scout suddenly pointed at us, “Ice cream!” 

Theia smirked, “There is another reason for you to come and visit, I’ve gotten better at that since I knew you.” 

Sands snorted, “Like we weren’t going to come anyway.” 

Vanessa asked, “Do you know where mom is? Where any of my family are?” 

Theia and I shared a look before Theia sighed, “Mom is in a Seosten Imperium black site, I don’t know enough of where it is to find it either. I lived there for a bit but nobody ever told me the coordinates. At least right before I came here the first time your brother and father were still at large.” 

“I … got the impression she was important to them. Like she was somebody special.” 

I couldn’t help but laugh, “You could say that. Your mother was part of an elite force, super-soldiers, each put through a process that gave them unique special abilities … There is a chance you might inherit her powers, the best known being her perfect aim. She never missed something she aimed at unless something really weird was going on. Theia’s biological father was another member of that force, and she inherited the energy control powers from him. That’s _not_ a normal Seosten ability.” 

Sands blinked, “Huh. So I’m guessing Theia is your actual name?” 

Theia smiled and gave them a curtsy. She’d chosen to show up in the skirt version of the Crossroad’s uniform, Hunter track of course. “Aletheia Sariel Chambers, at your service. Best to stick with Theia in general use. My full first name could be on a watch list.” 

Vanessa asked, “You have mom’s name as your middle name?” 

Theia nodded, “After she adopted me, though taking her name is human culture, not Seosten. We only use a single name. Tabbris has the same thing, she’s formally Tabbris Diana Chambers.” 

Vanessa was thinking, “Angel of Freedom? And you’re named after the Goddess of Truth?” 

“Mom tends to be pretty pointed with her name choices. There are reasons that she picked the name she did for me, mostly related to being offensive to my unholy bitch of a mother.” 

Sands held up a hand, “Wait, Sariel gave you your name? What was it before?” 

“I … didn’t have one, it’s a not very nice story and we can talk about it some other time. So, that elite force Felicity was talking about? They arrived on Earth about three thousand years ago and subverted Greek culture of the time by taking on the roles of existing and new gods. I’m the biological daughter of Zeus and Hera … the legends about Hera being a really bad parent are pretty accurate it turns out.” 

Scout spoke up, “Three thousand … how old are you?” 

That earned a laugh from Theia, “Seosten have an average lifespan of eight to ten thousand years … Sariel is about three and a half thousand years old.” She looked over at Vanessa, “You may end up living a very long time even if you don’t kill something that stops your aging. As for me I’m … “ she had to stop and think about it for a moment, “I’m not sure on my birthdate in your calendar, so let’s just say almost thirty.” She looked down at her mid-teens self, “And yes, I probably still look like this, our aging slows down a lot after puberty. Tabbris is already grumpy in advance about that.” 

Vanessa was apparently still trying to process the age thing, I guess we’d hit her with a lot of shocks, then her gaze suddenly sharpened. “Mom was a greek goddess … Tabbris is named after her … you mean my mother is _Artemis_?” 

Theia nodded, “The huntress that never missed a shot. The legends say she was the protector of girls, but honestly she’d protect any child that got near her. She saved me from my parents and they were pretty much her worst enemies.” 

That got a small smile from Vanessa, “I knew she was amazing. I … well, I know more than I did, and I’ve got more family. That’s a start.” 

I spoke up, “You have an uncle running around, probably on Earth. Apollo, who went rogue from the Imperium a long time ago and has been causing them havoc ever since … you can probably get an idea of how much they hate him for what they did their best to do to his birth name in myth, Lucifer.” 

Vanessa blinked, “My uncle is the devil?” 

Theia didn’t so much grin as show a lot of teeth, “When my people call themselves angels, the demons start looking like the good guys, so hail Satan. Most of those stories about him under those names are bullshit.” She considered for a moment, “I guess you could say that it was just the loyalist Olympians getting back at him in some ways, Apollo wrote or at least modified most of the legends about the Olympians. While making my father out to be a rampaging letch was hilariously inaccurate, he was very much on the ball about how bad at parenthood Hera was.” 

Sands was just looking between us again, “I’m still getting over the fact I’m sitting in a room with the children of gods … most of the Crossroads histories assume the legends were about a mixture of Naturals and Strang … um, Alters. Any good stories are things the Heretics did and anything bad is blamed on Alters.” 

Scout sighed, “Propaganda.” 

I nodded, “There is a lot of it going around.” 

“How … “ Sands took a breath, “Are my mom and da good people?” 

Oh boy. I picked my words carefully, “They always did what they thought was best. I can’t speak for Larissa before she met Sariel, but she was willing to trust a Stranger that needed help, and go to amazing efforts to help smuggle a couple of children out of hell.” 

Theia muttered, “I wasn’t technically a child, I was in my early twenties.” 

“A couple of _traumatised children_ and even trust them around her own family when it was the only way to help them. So yeah, your mother is very good people.” 

Sands’s voice was quiet, “You’re not saying anything about Da. He … mom told us not to trust him. If he’d been on that boat he wouldn’t have trusted Sariel would he, and Scout would be dead?” 

Theia and I were almost painfully quiet. There really wasn’t anything I could say. 

Sands just let out a quiet, “Oh.” Before Scout pulled her into a tight hug. 

I considered for a moment then got up and moved over to them, “Theia, you can borrow the body for a bit.” 

The illusion vanished and I felt my body leave my control as Theia tentatively went to hug the others who latched onto us tightly. 

Eventually the twins let go and Theia reactivated her image. “I … Liam's a good man in most ways and a good father, and that says a lot of good things about him because I’ve seen the alternative but … He believes in what Crossroads says, he really believes in it.” 

I sat down again, “So, let's look at the good things. You have your friends back, Tabs is going to be really happy, and we found Vanessa.” 

Theia tapped the side of her head, “I have this nifty communication spell I use to stay in touch with Tabbris, who if she could recall to any of us would have by now. She’s wanting to meet you a _lot_.” 

Vanessa gave a sad smile, “I’m really looking forward to that, I just wish I knew where to start looking for everyone else other than ‘out there somewhere’.” 

Theia returned a small smile of her own, “There is one other bit of good news, that recall thing I was talking about. We _always_ have a recall link. If our current host is unavailable, or we've never grabbed one in our life, the link points back to somebody we’re related to.” Her smile got bigger, “And it always starts with the opposite gender parent.” 

Vanessa’s eyes went wide, “You mean …” 

I nodded, “Another reason for you to meet Tabbris, she can teach you about possession and how to project just your mind to your recall target. How would you like to talk to your dad again?” 


	23. Reunion 4.01

[Sunday, September 24, 2017] 

“So, thinking of having a nervous breakdown?” 

Vanessa looked at me, “I’m guessing that was your reaction when you first found out about all of this?” 

We were sitting at one end of the treehouse to gave the others some room. I didn’t even need to listen to them to know that Theia was currently passing on messages from Tabbris, the way she was waving her arms around was very typical for my little sister when she was excited. Theia wasn’t an arm waver, though she could be a pacer. 

“Kinda … for me I first got my intro to this in a very weird lucid dream. Even without that spell we have ways of seeing each other.” I gave a sad smile, “Theia was in my vision with me. If you thought my reaction was bad, think what it would have been without her to give me support while I was watching it.” 

Vanessa winced at that, “I’m guessing she was running your body afterwards?” 

“Somewhat, I don’t think I could have managed to walk in a straight line if she hadn’t been helping. I was mostly checked out for large chunks of that day … it wasn’t him taking mom that was the worst bit, it was that he came for me and she gave herself up instead. I hate that man so much I don’t even have words for it.” 

She nodded, “I feel like that about Puriel. He took everything from me.” 

I didn’t even need to be looking in Theia’s direction to know she’d just winced. I did look up to catch her asking for a pause and turning to face us looking nervous. “Vanessa … I haven’t told you everything about my biological parents.” 

Vanessa frowned, “I know you don’t like them and they were bad to you.” 

“Mother was … bad enough I’m not going into details. Father was … I only saw him a few times, distant doesn't begin to describe it.” Theia shook her head, “My father was the man who came to your house and tore your family apart. My mother runs the black site that’s holding mom.” She cringed a bit in advance. 

Vanessa just sighed a little, “Theia, are you your parents? Have you done those things?” She leaned closer to the image, “You’re my sister and we’re going to get her out of there. Am I wrong?” 

Theia swallowed, “But …“ 

I had to speak up, “I think you’re just going to have to give in, Vanessa’s spent most of her life on a quest to get her family back together, and that includes you now. Does she look like somebody that’s going to back down and stop accepting you?” 

There was a long pause before Theia finally said, “No … she looks like her mother, and Sariel never gave up on me either. I miss her, I miss her so much.” 

Vanessa gave Theia a sad smile, “I miss her too. We’ll get her back, we’ll get all of them back.” 

I couldn’t help myself, “You have my staff.” 

Scout spoke up, “And my rifle.” 

Theia grinned, “And my collection of totally bullshit superpowers.” 

Sands looked at us, “Um, and my total confusion as to whatever you’re referencing this time. Let me guess, movie night again?” 

Vanessa couldn’t help but ask, “How is it that Scout gets all these references and you don’t?” 

“We don’t do everything together … she’s not big on going to social events, so if I’m going to something she stays home and watches stuff.” 

Scout shrugged, “I like movies.” 

Sands grinned, “Scout has had to write up summaries of some of them for the teachers so it’s easier for them to keep up with what people are talking about. Da started it and it spread from there.” Her smile faded again as she thought about her father. 

Theia sighed, “I really don’t like Liam but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been a good father. He even did his best for me. He loves you and he wants what he thinks is best for you but that might not be what you think is best for you.” 

Scout’s voice was even quieter than normal, “If he’d known he’d have killed you and Tabitha.” 

For somebody that would insist she was terrible at being comforting, Theia wasn’t that bad, “Maybe not personally, I think he would have just made sure to get us away from you, but probably informed people that would kill us. He would be doing it to protect you though, that’s what we would believe right to the bottom of his heart. He just doesn’t question certain assumptions … ever.” Another long sigh, “Still, I kinda like him. He’s nice. I’m the last person that should be saying ‘don’t throw away your family’ because I threw away my biological family as fast as I could, but Liam isn’t … that. He really does love both of you.” 

Sands gave us a sad smile, “I know.” She shook her head, “So, power of Zeus, how’s that working out for you?” 

None of us argued about the change in topic. 

Theia shrugged, “It doesn’t suck. I don’t have a lot of good to say about father but his powers are pretty good, I’ve got a fraction of them now but the rest will come in over time … a little bit like being Bonded I guess … sorry, Natural Heretic.” 

Vanessa asked, “Bonded, that a Seosten term?” 

I nodded, “Yeah, I keep having to remind myself not to use it myself, though I do like it more than Natural Heretic as a term, Tabbris Bonded has a nice ring to it.” 

Sands looked between Theia and me, “So when Flick is throwing lightning that’s you really doing it?” 

I waggled my hand, “Theia provides the power, I’m the one that fires it off. It’s … okay, so Theia’s possession issues have two problems. The big one is that she can’t leave, but the other major problem is she can’t give me any control. If we weren’t cheating she’d be running around pretending to me, and I’d be the invisible friend.” I gave Vanessa a grin, “Your mother thought that would be a bit sub-optimal so she came up with a work-around.” 

Theia smiled, “Mom is one of the finest experts in mind-magic in the Imperium. She created a kind of virtual copy of herself that lives inside Tabbris to act as a trainer and a cut-down version of that for me to act as an index for that spellbook I need to give you some bits of. But the important thing here is that she built a possession spell for people like me called Ouroborus.” 

Theia gave them a moment to think about that and it was Sands that worked it out first, “Oh! You mean while you’re possessing Flick, she’s possessing you?” 

Theia gave Sands a delighted look, “Yes. More exactly she’s possessing the bits of me that control her body, so when she wants to move she reflexively tells me to move her but it’s fast enough to not be noticed. Anyway, what wasn’t planned because when mom built this I didn’t have these powers, was that it seems like the bits of me that run the body are right next to the bits of me that run my Olympian power. And that’s how you get Felicity throwing my lightning around.” She paused to look over at me, “Badly.” 

I gave the ceiling a look, “We can’t all be naturals. Also I don’t get feedback from the powers nearly as clearly as Theia does. It’s _there_ but it’s fuzzy, practice is helping” 

Vanessa was looking thoughtful, “So she just built a spell for this?” 

Theia nodded, “Yeah, well, built it and cast it on me. I’ve got the full notes and instructions here,” she tapped her head, “but it’s too complex for me to cast at this point. She’s also working on some ideas for safe ways for me or others with my condition to eject. That was a work in progress at the time we left though, she’s a genius though.” 

Vanessa frowned, “So if something breaks that spell though you can’t fix it?” 

I nodded, “If that happens Theia knows how to impersonate me well enough, especially with me giving advice. That gives us time to try out some backup plans, and we do know some options for a forced ejection that are just very dangerous rather than fatal.” 

I kept my tone light, but I’ll be honest that it’s a bit of a fear in the back of my head. 

I really was fine with Theia having the body for a day a week, and could see going up to more without issue. I could just take it easy, watch the world go past, sigh at her insistence that I look really good in a dress, and see her somehow manage to use my hands to create amazing food and not set the kitchen on fire. To be honest I often spent large chunks sleeping, one of the points was to give her some private time as well, and it’s a good way to catch up on missed sleep. 

A key thing that made it okay though was knowing that it would end. Knowing that the next day I’d be back in charge. I always felt bad that Theia was stuck in the background once more, even if she always said she was fine, but it was just good to know that it was temporary. To be stuck like that and know I wasn’t getting back in control for some unknown amount of time? I’ll be honest, I’d had nightmares about it. 

Getting to the point of being able to cast the spell herself was a major goal for Theia but there was a lot of difference between a thirty year old mage and an over three thousand year old archmage. In her area of specialty Sariel was a once in a generation master, Theia would probably never be close to as good as Sariel. Of course she didn’t have to create the spell, just be able to cast the horribly complex thing, which made it a lot more achievable. 

Scout asked, “How careful do we need to be? With the Imperium?” 

Theia frowned, “A lot … I won’t go into the full details now but I’ve got access to back doors into most Crossroads security systems, deep level design holes that the Imperium put there. I shouldn’t have been able to get through medical when I was here, there _are _ways to tell Seosten from humans, but nothing in Crossroad’s medical systems or spells can. What does that tell you?” 

I could see the look of realization. Vanessa bit her lip, “We’d worked a lot of that out, though we’d thought the medical bit was just you being close enough to human. They couldn’t find you in Flick so they can’t find a Seosten in anyone … how many are there?” 

I blew out a long breath, “Taking over powerful people is hard, unless you get them before they became powerful and got a home-ground advantage. I’m very sure that the Headmaster is clean, but I’m assuming at least one other teacher or high ranking staff member is possessed. One of them, one of Sariel’s old crewmates, showed up in my room in the first week, while Avalon and I were asleep, to check if I had somebody in me. We have a way to fake out the spell, so she thinks I’m clear, but she was _in my room_. Oh, and it’s the Goddess Nemesis, second best assassin the Olympus had, too. So yes, they are here.” 

The other three were looking at us with wide eyes. Yeah, they got it. 

I forced a smile, “So, some good news. I’m immune to possession, I have a Theia. Vanessa is immune, because possession reacts catastrophically to first generation Human hybrids. I mean it’s fairly safe for the hybrid, aside from getting a Seosten exploded over them, so that’s two of us that are covered.” 

Theia pondered, “If they try and get into either of you two, “ she pointed to Sands and Scout, “They would need to be going deep background. Anything less subtle and there is no way the other sister won’t notice something going on. To be safe though we might want to make a habit of regular checks. Sorry.” 

They both winced a bit but nodded. Sands asked, “So is there anything else we need to know right away? 

I got my phone out, “Well if you’re this far in. How much do you know about large scale memory spells, like a smaller version of the Bystander Effect?” 

Sands frowned, “I know they exist … are we under one?” 

“Us? No, the aftereffects of one but this one predates us, though Larissa would have been in her last years at Crossroads when it went off. So, we all know there is something weird going on with my mom, right?” 

Vanessa, “And you know more about it than you're letting on. How well do memory spells work on people with perfect memory?” 

Theia grinned, “Not well, you have to know to get it. It’s even harder if you’ve had training from an expert at mind-magic. Though we’re not immune, “ She sobered. “The stepping-stone, when it shattered and threw our family across the multiverse. It messed with Sariel’s memory, one reason it was hard to find you is that we didn’t know your _name_. She knows she has children and a husband, she remembers everything you did together, but she can’t remember exactly what you look like or what you were called. But she’s clinging onto knowing that you exist, knowing that you’re out there and she loves you, it keeps her going.” 

Vanessa was crying again, silent tears, but she was smiling too, “Can she be healed?” 

Theia nodded firmly, “Yes, just not where she is. Once we get her out that will be a different matter.” She tapped her head, “I’ve got her notes in here. She made sure of that.” 

“So anyway, on the subject of things hidden with memory spells.” I help up my phone with the picture I’d taken in the Athletic Accolades Hall. “If you wanted to know what my mother looked like, that’s her in the middle of the front row,” 

There was a long pause before Sands softly swore, “The hell … your mother graduated Crossroads almost a century ago? And they hid it?” 

Scout stated, “Banished.” 

I nodded, “Yep, she managed to piss off the powers that be so much they banished her and then wrapped a memory spell around her that hid that she’d ever been anything but a Bystander. A really big memory spell, one that several powerful Heretics had to give up their power for.” 

Sands blinked, “What were they hiding? What was that important?” 

I put my phone away, “What’s the biggest secret that Crossroads is sitting on, the one they try to train all of us to never think about?” 

Vanessa said, “That Strangers aren’t all evil.” 

Theia pointed, “And ten points for Ravenclaw.” 

“Yep. Mom worked out that while she was still a student, and by the time she graduated she was running a kind of Underground Railroad. Get the non-dangerous Alters away from hostile Heretics, leave the real threats to humanity, or other Alters, to get killed. The secrecy didn’t last though, it turned into a revolution, and then a civil war. And she was _winning_! Slowly but surely, more Heretics were finding out that there were two sides to the story.” 

Theia added, “Larissa was on the fence about joining when she finished her training at Crossroads. I don’t think she’d decided for sure, but then the Mnemosyne spell took the option away.” 

Scout was frowning, a dangerous glint in her eyes, while her sister was just looking shocked. 

I continued, “So they caught mom in the nineteen sixties and I’m not sure how they did that because there is yet another Mnemosyne involved covering _that_ up. Theia knows but I forget every time she tells me.” There was some quiet latin swearing in the background which I ignored, “But that didn’t stop things, it had too much momentum, too many people believe in it. So they pulled a spell together and erased her from history, and everything she’d done. The revolution ended overnight because suddenly everyone on the other side didn’t remember being anything but loyal to Crossroads or Eden’s Garden.” 

Vanessa looked ill, “But if they were around their allies when that happened … “ 

I gave her a sad look, “Allies, friends, even family … I don’t want to think of what happened shortly after that spell went off. But that’s why my mother was living as a Bystander, then dad met her, they moved to a small town and … well, I guess Fossor still remembered, and holds a grudge like nobody else.” 

Theia snarled a little, “That wasn’t a grudge, my mother holds grudges, _that_ was Fossor being a petty shit and trying to take you and Joselyn as a slave just to show he could. This could be part of some big long-term plan, because he has those, but it’s probably just because he can and nobody can stop him. That’s why he does most things.” She snorted, “For all I despise my own people, at least they have a point in what they do, not worth the evil they unleash, but at least it’s aimed at a goal that’s not just ‘make me more powerful and hurt a bunch of people along the way because it’s funny’.” 

I nodded, “Crossroads is wrong about most Strangers, but they are so right when it comes to Fossor.” I pushed my hatred down, “Anyway, I think you now know most of the big secrets I’m sitting on. There are a few others but they aren’t just my secret to tell. Meanwhile I’m going to have to work out a good time, and excuse, for all of you to come visit me because I need to fend of Tabs working out a way to smuggle herself into Crossroads. Because she _will_ try if we take too long.” 

Theia rubbed her hands together, “So, there is something I’ve been wanting to do since I got here and I could use your help.” She grinned at the twins, “I want to break into somewhere we shouldn’t be, it will be like old times.” 

Sands gave a cautious look, but she was trying and failing to hide a smile, “Where do you need to get into, Gaia’s office?” 

Theia winced, “Oh lords no, one does not simply break into her office, its doors are guarded by more than just Crossroads Security. There are traps there that do not sleep and the Headmistress is ever watchful. No, I need to break into somewhere much easier. I need to get into the records room behind main security.” 

Vanessa held a hand up, “I dread to ask, but why?” 

Theia got more serious, “Remember how there are things I can’t tell Facility or any of you because you won’t remember? Assuming I can’t get us all off planet, then that room is one of the places that _should_ be able to bypass the normal rules. Also I really want to poke through some records.” 

The twins exchanged a look, then Scout nodded, “Need a plan.” 

Theia smiled brightly, “I’m sure we can come up with something, and we have Felicity along now, who also gets up to things like this on a regular basis. Ah, we are going to cause so much havoc.” 

I couldn’t help but grin, “Theia told me _so many_ stories about you two. It’s so good not to have to hide that I know you … seeing you that first day at Crossroads was weird.” I looked over at Vanessa, “And that was before I knew you were going to introduce me to the other person I was looking for.” 

Theia, “Sarah, Sandoval, having seen what you’ve done and what you’re still doing for other students, how much you’re doing your best to help them. Larissa would be so proud of you, so very proud. You’ve lived up to everything she could have hoped for, you found me, you found Vanessa, you’ve done everything she could have hoped for and more. And when we find her and get her back she’ll tell you that herself.” 

She looked away from the twins who’d started crying again and looked at Vanessa, “And you. Look at you, you’ve kept going, kept looking, never given up. Found your way to somewhere you can get even better, looked out for help and found it against all possible odds. You really are Sariel’s daughter, I know for sure she’d be proud of you too.” 

And now Vanessa was crying too. This was the time I most wished I had a way to let Theia out in her own body. When Vanessa finally came to visit us Tabbris was going to try and kill her with hugs, and the twins. There would be a lot of attempted hug murder going on. 

The fact that Tabbris hadn’t already shown up was all the proof you needed that she wasn’t a teleporter. 

Once everyone had calmed down a bit I had another question. “On the topic of things where I don’t know what’s going on, do you two know anything about our totally useless Team Mentor? Because Crossroads isn’t the first time I’ve met him, he’s spied on my house at least twice. Tried to wipe my memory of it both times” I nodded towards the circle, “however certain people have strong views on people getting to do that to me.” 

Theia let out a snort, “Please, that was amuteur hour. Just enough to work on a Bystander kid. To make things weirder, the second time we saw him earlier this year he looked like he does now. But the _first_ time we saw him he looked like an adult, early twenties at a guess, but I’m sure he was the same person. That was a bit over a year ago. I can draw you a picture later if you want.” 

Sands looked thoughtful, “We don’t know what is going on with him. Thing is last year he was a model student, did well in all his classes, friendly to people, just generally a good guy. That’s how he got tagged to be a mentor this year, but since he came back from holidays he’s this barely component asshole. The staff have been trying to work it out, councillors have talked to him, no luck so far. I think they left him as our mentor in the hope he’d improve.” 

That was weird, and suspicious as hell. “I mean it’s useful for getting permission to go off and do things but other than that he’s kinda useless. I’ve been assuming he’s working with somebody that used to know mom, the way he looked at me was … “ I didn’t have Theia’s memory but some things stuck anyway, “It was personal. Not in a creepy way, but like this is personal for him, not like he's just spying on me as a job.” 

Theia was pondering, “I don’t _think_ he’s been taken over by one of us, if they took him over to get closer to us, because several of us are probably on a ‘people of interest’ list, especially Vanessa, they would want to pretend to be a good mentor so we’d involve them in things. Not go out of their way to drive us away. My people are evil, not stupid.” 

Vanessa gave us a look, “So we need to break into Crossroads Security, and also work out who our mentor is being a spy for, along with working out who else has been taken over by body-snatchers, and also work out how to find were our parents are, several of whom are on other planets. Why are you all smiling?” 

Theia’s grin widened, “Because we’re getting the band back together. We’re on a mission from god, or at least a goddess.” 

Sands brightened, “Hey! I get that reference!” 

It was almost like having Miranda back. Time to get to work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be delayed as I rebuild up a backlog so I'm not writing things in a rush like the last couple of chapters.
> 
> My apologies for this.

**Author's Note:**

> And here is my first multi-chapter fic. I'm going to try to keep to updating this once a week but we'll see how things go.
> 
> As always thanks to my betas pheonix89 and Grundpfeiler who helped so much with this.


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